Florida — Tens of thousands of electric customers could soon pay less for electricity because of the coronavirus outbreak
Florida Power & Light which serves numerous counties in Northeast Florida is proposing to cut electric bills by 25% because of lower fuel costs.
“That’s food, that’s toilet paper, that’s paper towels,” says St. Johns County neighbor Jorge Reyes about how he would spend the money he saves.
In Florida, utilities are required to pass along savings to customers when fuel costs drop, but those savings typically show up on bills over many months. The FPL discount would happen in May.
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“Everyone at FPL understands how critical it is to continue to provide reliable electricity and to keep as much money as possible in our customers’ pockets,” says FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy.
FPL provide’s power to more than 168,000 customers in parts of St. Johns, Columbia, Baker, Union, Clay, Putnam and Nassau but not Duval County which is served by JEA.
“We’re all in this together and if the other company is doing that, why wouldn’t you do that for your customers,” says JEA customer Renee Jordan.
JEA sent Action News Jax a statement that reads:
“JEA bills a Fuel Charge on energy used in a month. This charge is a pass-through of expenses for fuel used to generate electricity, like coal or natural gas. Lately, natural gas prices have been declining and are forecasted to stay low for the foreseeable future. This could possibly provide an opportunity to lower the Fuel Charge in conjunction with the need for increased base rates, partially mitigating customer bill impacts. Keeping in mind fuel markets are volatile, JEA will continue to monitor fuel forecasts and will take any future rate change recommendations to the Board for approval.”
The FPL proposal is expected to be filed with the Public Service Commission this week.
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