FPL to seek new rate plan to power growing state with unmatched combination of high reliability and low bills
JUNO BEACH, Fla., Dec. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Power & Light Company today notified the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) that it plans to file a formal request to set new rates once its current base rate agreement concludes at the end of 2025.
The plan, covering 2026 through 2029, would enable FPL to continue to diversify the company's electricity generation mix, protecting customers from fuel price volatility, and continue to deliver some of the country's most reliable electricity to its 6 million customers, all while keeping bills as low as possible.
Bill adjustments: FPL estimates that its proposal, along with projections for fuel and other costs, would increase a typical residential customer bill by an average annual rate of approximately 2.5% from January 2025 through 2029. Importantly, even with the proposed rate adjustment, FPL bills would remain well below the national average and below many other Florida electric utilities. Customers will be able to calculate potential adjustments to their bill after FPL files its formal plan.
What's next: The customary process for setting new base rates takes about a year. FPL will submit a detailed four-year rate plan as early as February to the PSC, beginning an extensive public review process that includes numerous opportunities for input from customers prior to a decision by state regulators.
How we got here: FPL's current four-year rate plan concludes at the end of 2025. It was agreed to by the state's consumer advocate and numerous environmental, business and customer groups and was unanimously approved by the PSC in 2021.
A word from FPL President and CEO Armando Pimentel: "FPL has a proven track record of delivering value for our customers - including diverse energy sources, high reliability and low bills. While we know there is never a good time to request a rate increase, we need to continue to make smart investments in the grid and in new generation resources so we can continue to deliver reliable electricity, enhance resiliency and diversify our generation mix to power our fast-growing state. That is our never-ending commitment to our customers and that's what this balanced plan does."
Key priorities: Among the ways FPL's proposed rate plan would benefit customers:
-- Delivering reliable service: FPL's plan supports continued investments
in the critical infrastructure and technologies that helped make FPL's
distribution service reliability 59% better than the national average
and the best among major utilities in Florida. FPL's technology
investments have benefitted customers, with smart-grid devices helping
speed restoration and avoid 1.8 million customer outages in 2023 alone.
Smart-grid technology helped avoid 1.4 million outages during storms in
the last three hurricane seasons.
-- Diversifying the ways FPL generates electricity: FPL's plan continues
investments in low-cost solar and battery storage technology to
complement its existing power plant fleet, which includes one of the
nation's largest natural gas fleets and safe, reliable nuclear power.
Continuing to diversify the power generation fleet helps protect FPL
customers from fuel price volatility.
-- Keeping bills as low as possible: FPL continuously leverages the latest
technology and relentlessly drives down costs to improve efficiency.
Modernizing FPL's power plant fleet has saved customers billions of
dollars in fuel costs and investing in solar has saved customers more
than $890 million in fuel FPL did not have to purchase. FPL's non-fuel
operations and maintenance costs per customer are nearly 26% lower than
they were a decade ago, are the lowest among peer utilities and save
customers about $2.9 billion per year compared to an average-performing
utility - or more than $24 per month on a typical 1,000-kWh residential
customer bill.
New infrastructure for growth: FPL has added about 275,000 customer accounts since 2021 and expects to add about 330,000 more through the end of 2029, which will require significant new generating capacity and distribution infrastructure to meet demand in one of America's fastest-growing states.
High reliability, best-in-class resiliency and low bills: No other utility in the U.S. provides a better combination of reliability, resiliency and low bills than FPL. The proposed four-year rate plan will help FPL continue providing excellent service for customers every single day.
Context: FPL works hard to diversify its supply chain and control costs for customers. Still, FPL is not immune to inflation. For example, since FPL last filed to adjust base rates in 2021, the cost of labor has increased nearly 11%, wires and cables 20%, utility poles 49% and transformers 101%.
Florida Power and Light Company
As America's largest electric utility, Florida Power & Light Company serves more customers and sells more power than any other utility, providing clean, affordable, reliable electricity to approximately 6 million accounts, or more than 12 million people. FPL operates one of the most fuel efficient and cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S and in 2022 won the ReliabilityOne(®) National Reliability Award for the seventh time in the last ten years. The company was also recognized by Escalent in 2022 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities for the ninth consecutive year. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity. NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
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SOURCE Florida Power & Light Company
