Lloyd Dunkelberger
Florida Power & Light customers will get a small break on their utility bills next year, after the company won approval to delay a charge related to the construction of two nuclear reactors in Miami-Dade County.
The Public Service Commission agreed Thursday to defer the charge for a year beginning in January, which amounts to 34 cents-a-month break for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours. The decision represents a $22 million savings in 2017 for FP&L customers.
FP&L was going to collect the charge under the state law that allows utilities to recover some costs associated with the construction of nuclear power plants while the facilities are being licensed and constructed.
The utility is in the process of winning federal approval for two reactors at its Turkey Point facility in Miami-Dade.
The PSC will review FP&L’s nuclear recovery costs plans next year in the commission’s 2017 Nuclear Cost Recovery Clause hearing.
The PSC is scheduled next month to hold a hearing on FP&L’s request for a three-year plan to increase its base rate for residential customers by some $13.28 a month, representing a 23 percent increase when fully enacted its third year.
