FPL proposes hike in fuel charge

JUNO BEACH — The inevitable has happened. Electricity is about to get much more expensive.

Florida Power & Light Co. is asking the Florida Public Service Commission to allow it to raise fuel charges on residential customers, with the net effect that monthly electric bills will be 16 percent higher.

FPL says the average customer now spends $102.63 a month to power their homes with 1,000 kilowatts of electricity. If the PSC approves the fuel charge hike, that bill will jump to $118.91.

The utility cited a 32 percent increase in the cost of natural gas and a 54 percent hike in the price of fuel oil since July 2007.

“We recognize that higher electric bills will be a burden on our customers,” FPL President Armando J. Olivera said. “We never like having to increase the price customers pay for electricity, and it’s especially painful during difficult economic times. However, the increase in fuel prices that we have been experiencing is extraordinary.“

FPL has asked the PSC to vote on the increase at its July 1 meeting. If approved, the higher fuel costs would be reflected in customer bills from August through December. FPL will file its 2009 fuel-price projections with the PSC this September.

FPL in a statement said the charge covers only the actual cost of fuel, and is adjusted to reflect both prices increases and decreases.