FPL to upgrade Riviera Beach plant, cut 300 jobs

By Palm Beach Business.com

JUNO BEACH — Florida Power & Light Co. said Friday that it will spend $2 billion to modernize two power plants, including the one in Riviera Beach, while eliminating about 300 jobs as a result of the currently difficult economy.

“These decisions were not easy, but we believe that the near-term focus on keeping operating costs in line while continuing to invest in our infrastructure to deliver the best value, service and reliability over the long term represents a balanced and responsible approach to meeting the needs of our customers,” FPL President and CEO Armando J. Olivera said.

The company said the improvements would make the plants — Cape Canaveral is also to be upgraded — more fuel efficient while making them more reliable and environmentally friendly.

FPL suspended plans to upgrade its power system in January after the state Public Service Commission scaled back the utility’s proposed hike rate. Following an in-depth analysis, the company agreed to move ahead with work at Riviera Beach and Cape Canaveral.

FPL estimates the work will save customers $850 million to $950 million over the life of the plants compared to keeping the plants as is. FPL also said the work will reduce particulate and carbon dioxide.

The upgrading of the two plants will create 1,300 direct and 4,000 indirect jobs during the constructio, FPL estimated. The new power generating units will go into service in 2013 and 2014, as originally planned.

FPL also announced that it will cut about 300 positions, or less than 3 percent, primarily due to the difficult economy and a dramatic reduction in new housing construction that has reduced the need for positions to support that activity. The company said the cuts should have no impact on current customers. It also said it would offer voluntary retirement plans to reduce the number of layoffs.

 “We had hoped to avoid the necessity of staffing reductions because we recognize the hardship this creates,” Olivera said. “However, the most recent customer and sales projections for 2010 and beyond now have dropped even lower than the levels we had forecast as a part of our rate case filing... .  As a result, it has become very clear that we have to align our staffing levels relative to the most recent sales projections.”

Olivera said FPL will work to move affected employees into other jobs within the company and will offer severance and outplacement services to those eligible.

 

 

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