Posted on 01/23/2018 1:46:22 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Florida Power & Light Co. said Tuesday it will use its federal tax savings under the new tax law to wipe out $1.3 billion in Hurricane Irma-related costs.
As a result, FPL’s typical monthly residential bill would drop to $99.37 from the current $102.72, according to the utility. Without Irma storm surcharges of $4 to $5.50 monthly until 2020, FPL said its 4.9 million customers would save an average of $250.
FPL had planned to start collecting a new storm charge in March and later ask Florida’s Public Service Commission to approve additional charges until the electric grid restoration bill was paid.
“The timing of federal tax reform, coming on the heels of the most expensive hurricane in Florida history, created an unusual and unprecedented opportunity,” said Eric Silagy, FPL’s president.
J.R. Kelly, Florida’s public counsel, said the Office of Public Counsel, as well as other parties that settled with FPL on rates in 2016, saw the corporate tax cuts coming, since they were part of the Trump Administration's agenda, and included a provision in the agreement to address the issue.
On Jan. 9, Florida’s Office of Public Counsel petitioned regulators to open a docket to “investigate and adjust” base rates by investor-owned utilities due to the new tax law. The consumer watchdog agency said the regulator has “an obligation to take action to pass tax-reduction benefits of the [tax] Act back to consumers.”
“Income taxes are calculated into the rates that consumers pay,” Kelly said. “It’s unfair for ratepayers to pay at 35 percent and FPL to only pay at 21 percent; that would be a boondoggle for shareholders.”
He said FPL would have risked having to refund money to customers had it moved forward with a new storm surcharge to bills.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
Let em eat cake!
Yesterday I went into the nearby cellphone storefront to pay my normal $150 monthly for 5 cellphones. The lady told me there was a rate change for all their plans. My plan was now only $92.
Apparently the phone company previously had a large number of delinquents and no-pays. Now everyone is paying on time. They have money in their pocket.
I’m with Crickett which caters to minorities with cheap plans.
Even customers are winning.
There are millions of people in Pelosi paradises like Venezuela and North Korea who would love to have some crumbs.
I don’t have FP&L, but FEMA finally, today, took the last of my tree trunk away!
I don’t have FPL, I have Tampa Electric. They are holding out and still want 3 years of bill increases for the same hurricane based reason.
C’mon TECO ???
I really can’t see why this type of utility charge can’t be picked up by FEMA ??!? Tree removal by utilities is in the same concept as tree removal in my yard that fema covered.
Had TECO when I lived in Winter Haven. Go figure. They were not too bad. Have Lakeland Electric now. Didn’t lose a second of power during Irma. Not so the folks on the other side of the block. LE, also.
teco was bought out a year or more ago by a Canadian outfit, Emera. Every move they’ve made is anti-consumer. Up’ed the meter charge by 10% in one swipe. Changed billing and won’t post on the new bills the date of the next reading. Now they want me to pay like $4 a month for 3 years so they can recoup their restoration expense. While they continue to waste marketing $$$ on TV to get consumers to reduce waste. And teco spent 3 million $$$ two years ago in a TV campaign to lie to consumers in trying to pass a solar monopoly bill into the Florida constitution. It failed.
These regulators are lock stock in step with the utilities not the consumers.
#winning
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