Bay County Chamber of Commerce issued the following announcement on August 13.
Florida Power & Light Company today announced a comprehensive, four-year rate settlement agreement developed jointly with the Florida Office of Public Counsel – the state’s consumer advocate – as well as the Florida Retail Federation, the Florida Industrial Power Users Group and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, that would phase in new rates starting in 2022. The agreement would support continued long-term investments in infrastructure, clean energy and innovative technology – including the largest solar buildout in the United States – while keeping FPL’s typical residential customer bills well below the national average through the end of 2025.
The agreement would resolve FPL’s current base rate proceeding and directly support FPL’s groundbreaking “30-by-30” plan to install 30 million solar panels in Florida by 2030, which remains ahead of schedule and under budget. In doing so, the agreement would also unlock a second phase of the company’s highly popular and sold-out SolarTogether program – more than doubling what’s already the largest community solar program in the country across FPL’s service area that now spans from Miami to Pensacola1. In all, the settlement agreement would support the development of 16 million solar panels across more than 50 new sites – enough to power approximately 1 million homes with clean, emissions-free energy from the sun.
In addition to solar energy, the settlement agreement would support FPL’s green hydrogen pilot project in Okeechobee County, an innovative technology that could one day unlock 100% carbon-free electricity that’s available 24 hours a day, as well as the FPL Manatee Energy Storage Center, the world’s largest integrated solar-powered battery system that’s projected to begin serving customers later this year. The agreement would also enable FPL to continue building a stronger, smarter and more storm-resilient energy grid in the face of Florida’s frequently severe weather.
The proposed agreement reflects a nearly 40% reduction in FPL’s proposed January 2022 base rate revenue increase, from $1.1 billion to $692 million, driven partly by a reduction in the company’s originally proposed return on equity midpoint from 11.5% to 10.6%. Likewise, FPL’s 2023 requested revenue increase would be reduced by nearly 10%, from $605 million to $560 million.
Other components of the proposed settlement agreement include:
- Promote and support expansion of electric vehicle infrastructure throughout FPL’s service area.
- Support the closing of a coal unit located in Georgia, in which FPL has a partial interest.
- Support FPL’s ongoing efforts to develop and deploy cutting-edge smart grid technology.
- Continue to support FPL’s ability to respond to hurricanes, tropical storms and other natural disasters.
FPL’s typical residential customer bill is lower today than it was 15 years ago and well below the national average. The proposed settlement agreement would keep typical residential bills well below the national average and among the lowest in Florida through 2025. In fact, residential bills are projected to grow modestly from 2021-2025 at an average annual rate of 2.5%, which is less than half the rate of inflation over the last 12 months and well below recent price increases in gasoline, housing, used cars and airfare.
Combined with current projections for fuel and other costs over the full four years of the rate plan, the proposed settlement agreement would phase in increases on the typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill as follows:
- In 2022, a base rate adjustment, along with projections for fuel and other costs, would add about $6.08 a month or about 20 cents a day on a typical bill.
- In 2023, a subsequent-year base rate adjustment, along with projections for fuel and other costs, would add about $3.85 a month or about 13 cents a day on a typical bill.
- In 2024, a solar base rate adjustment, along with projections for fuel and other costs, would add about $2.21 a month or about 7 cents a day on a typical bill.
- In 2025, a solar base rate adjustment, along with projections for fuel and other costs, would add about $1.50 a month or about 5 cents a day on a typical bill.
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