Duke Energy Florida (DEF) on Monday said it had reached an agreement with consumer representatives and business groups in its pending rate increase request filed with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC).
The agreement, filed with the Florida regulators on July 15, is subject to approval by the commission and would allow DEF to continue making investments to reduce outages, shorten response times, meet future energy demands, increase solar generation, and explore new technologies to generate customer cost savings, the company said yesterday in a statement.
“This agreement delivers the smarter, cleaner energy future customers deserve while prioritizing reliability and price stability,” said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. “Duke Energy Florida works hard to meet the unique needs of the diverse customers we serve. We remain committed to delivering on what customers want from us, their local utility.”
DEF, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, provides electricity to two million residential, commercial, and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.
The company filed an application on April 2 for a base rate increase with the Florida PSC to recover the cost of operating the utility and to allow the company an opportunity to earn a fair rate of return on its investment, according to the commission, which said DEF’s last rate case was in 2021.
Even with an approved rate increase, DEF said it expects that overall customer bills will decrease in January 2025 compared to January 2024 due to the expiration at the end of this year of the 2022 fuel under-recovery, storm restoration cost recovery, and some legacy purchased power contracts.
The removal of these costs will lower customer bills, DEF said in its statement.
The agreement that DEF filed yesterday in this rate case was developed collaboratively with customer representatives of several consumer groups, including the state’s Office of Public Counsel, the Florida Industrial Power Users Group, PCS Phosphate Company Inc., Nucor Corp., and the Florida Retail Federation.
If approved, the base rate changes are estimated to result in an average annual bill increase of 2 percent over the three-year period from 2025 to 2027. This is composed of $203 million and $59 million in base rate increases in January 2025 and 2026, respectively, as well as increases associated with the company building 12 new solar facilities, estimated at $12 million, $71 million, and $58 million in 2025, 2026, and 2027, respectively, says DEF.
The utility highlighted some of the other key takeaways from the agreement, including continued grid modernization to serve increased population growth; ongoing power plant enhancements and efficiencies; and ongoing investments in renewable energy technologies.
Among other provisions, the agreement also would provide flexibility for Florida’s most vulnerable customers during extreme weather events, such as suspending disconnects for nonpayment of DEF bills when actual temperatures reach 95 degrees or greater.
DEF said it has already reduced rates twice this year, with reductions in January and June.
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