JUNO BEACH, Fla., Aug. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.
"This agreement is a big win for all 5.6 million FPL customers
and our state, and it demonstrates what can be achieved through a
collaborative process," said FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy. "In a rapidly growing state on the
front lines of climate change, our customers deserve bold and
decisive, long-term actions as we build a more resilient and
sustainable energy future all of us can depend on, including future
generations. This agreement paves the way for FPL to continue
delivering America's best energy value – electricity that's not
just clean and reliable, but also affordable."
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.
Information for residential customers
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.
Based on the settlement agreement, FPL's standard 1,000-kWh
typical monthly residential bill benchmark would be:
FPL Bills – 2006,
2021 & 2022-2025
|
2006
|
$108.61
|
2021
|
$101.70
|
2022
|
$107.78
|
2023
|
$111.63
|
2024
|
$113.84
|
2025
|
$115.34
|
"2006" reflects
FPL's average bill during the year 2006. "2021" reflects FPL's
average bill during the year 2021. "2022-2025" reflects the current
projection for FPL's typical 1,000-kWh customer bill from
2022-2025, which includes projected base rate adjustments, as well
as current projections for fuel and other clauses. All bill totals
include the state's standard gross receipts tax, but do not include
any local taxes or fees that vary by community. FPL bills do not
include the company's Northwest Florida region. All rates
are subject to change.
|
Most FPL customers power their homes for just a few dollars a
day. The majority of FPL customer households consume less than the
standard 1,000-kWh typical bill benchmark. In fact, more than 1
million FPL customers pay $50 or less
per month for electricity.
Consistent with the four-year rate plan filed in March, the
proposed settlement agreement would unify the rates and tariffs of
FPL and Gulf Power. In recognition of the initial difference in the
costs of serving the existing FPL and Gulf Power customers, the
settlement agreement would implement a transition rider/credit
mechanism to address those differences in a reasonable manner for
all customers. The transition rider/credit would decline to zero
over a five-year period, at which point rates would be fully
aligned by Jan. 1, 2027. Under the
proposed settlement agreement, a typical 1,000-kWh residential
customer bill in Northwest Florida
is projected to be lower at the end of 2025 than it is today.
FPL Northwest
Florida Bills – 2006, 2019, 2021 & 2022-2025
|
2006
|
$92.34
|
2019
|
$128.86
|
2021
|
$129.24
|
2022
|
$131.43
|
2023
|
$130.55
|
2024
|
$128.03
|
2025
|
$124.80
|
"2006" reflects
Gulf Power's average bill during the year 2006. "2019" reflects
Gulf Power's average bill during the year 2019, which is when FPL's
parent company, NextEra Energy, purchased Gulf Power. "2021"
reflects Gulf Power's average bill during the year 2021.
"2022-2025" reflects the current projection for the typical
1,000-kWh customer bill in Northwest Florida from 2022-2025, which
includes projected base rate adjustments as well as current
projections for fuel and other clauses. All bill totals include the
state's standard gross receipts tax but do not include any local
taxes or fees that vary by community. Bills also do not include
surcharges for hurricanes. All rates are subject to
change.
|
Information for business customers
FPL business
customers' typical bills are lower today than they were 15 years
ago and are well below the national average. As part of the
proposed settlement agreement, base rate adjustments would vary
widely depending on rate class and customer usage. Typical business
customer bills are projected to grow at an average annual rate of
about 1% to 3% from 2021-2025, depending on rate class. Even
with the proposed increase, typical business customer bills will
remain below the national average through 2025.
The estimates above are based on the company's proposed
settlement agreement and subject to approval by the Florida Public
Service Commission.
Florida Power & Light
Company
Florida Power &
Light Company is the largest energy company in the U.S. as measured
by retail electricity produced and sold. The company serves more
than 5.6 million customer accounts supporting more than 11 million
residents across Florida with clean, reliable and affordable
electricity. FPL operates one of the cleanest power generation
fleets in the U.S. and in 2020 won
the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Excellence
Award, presented by PA Consulting, for the fifth time in the last
six years. The company was recognized in 2020 as one of the most
trusted U.S. electric utilities by Escalent for the seventh
consecutive year. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc.
(NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its
efforts in sustainability, ethics and diversity, and has been
ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in
Fortune's 2021 list of "World's Most Admired Companies." NextEra
Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC,
which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's
largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a
world leader in battery storage. For more information about NextEra
Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com,
www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
Cautionary Statements and Risk Factors That May Affect Future
Results
This news release contains "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements are not statements of historical facts, but instead
represent the current expectations of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NextEra
Energy) and Florida Power &
Light Company (FPL) regarding future operating results and other
future events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently
uncertain and outside of NextEra Energy's and FPL's control. In
some cases, you can identify the forward-looking statements by
words or phrases such as "will," "may result," "expect,"
"anticipate," "believe," "intend," "plan," "seek," "potential,"
"projection," "forecast," "predict," "goals," "target," "outlook,"
"should," "would" or similar words or expressions. You should not
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are
not a guarantee of future performance. The future results of
NextEra Energy and FPL and their business and financial condition
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause their
actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied
in the forward-looking statements, or may require them to limit or
eliminate certain operations. These risks and uncertainties
include, but are not limited to, those discussed in this news
release and the following: effects of extensive regulation of
NextEra Energy's and FPL's business operations; inability of
NextEra Energy and FPL to recover in a timely manner any
significant amount of costs, a return on certain assets or a
reasonable return on invested capital through base rates, cost
recovery clauses, other regulatory mechanisms or otherwise; impact
of political, regulatory and economic factors on regulatory
decisions important to NextEra Energy and FPL; disallowance of cost
recovery by FPL based on a finding of imprudent use of derivative
instruments; effect of any reductions or modifications to, or
elimination of, governmental incentives or policies that support
utility scale renewable energy projects of NextEra Energy
Resources, LLC and its affiliated entities (NextEra Energy
Resources) or the imposition of additional tax laws, policies or
assessments on renewable energy; impact of new or revised laws,
regulations, interpretations or ballot or regulatory initiatives on
NextEra Energy and FPL; capital expenditures, increased operating
costs and various liabilities attributable to environmental laws,
regulations and other standards applicable to NextEra Energy and
FPL; effects on NextEra Energy and FPL of federal or state laws or
regulations mandating new or additional limits on the production of
greenhouse gas emissions; exposure of NextEra Energy and FPL to
significant and increasing compliance costs and substantial
monetary penalties and other sanctions as a result of extensive
federal regulation of their operations and businesses; effect on
NextEra Energy and FPL of changes in tax laws, guidance or policies
as well as in judgments and estimates used to determine tax-related
asset and liability amounts; impact on NextEra Energy and FPL of
adverse results of litigation; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of
failure to proceed with projects under development or inability to
complete the construction of (or capital improvements to) electric
generation, transmission and distribution facilities, gas
infrastructure facilities or other facilities on schedule or within
budget; impact on development and operating activities of NextEra
Energy and FPL resulting from risks related to project siting,
financing, construction, permitting, governmental approvals and the
negotiation of project development agreements; risks involved in
the operation and maintenance of electric generation, transmission
and distribution facilities, gas infrastructure facilities, retail
gas distribution system in Florida
and other facilities; effect on NextEra Energy and FPL of a lack of
growth or slower growth in the number of customers or in customer
usage; impact on NextEra Energy and FPL of severe weather and other
weather conditions; threats of terrorism and catastrophic events
that could result from terrorism, cyberattacks or other attempts to
disrupt NextEra Energy's and FPL's business or the businesses of
third parties; inability to obtain adequate insurance coverage for
protection of NextEra Energy and FPL against significant losses and
risk that insurance coverage does not provide protection against
all significant losses; a prolonged period of low gas and oil
prices could impact NextEra Energy Resources' gas infrastructure
business and cause NextEra Energy Resources to delay or cancel
certain gas infrastructure projects and could result in certain
projects becoming impaired; risk to NextEra Energy Resources of
increased operating costs resulting from unfavorable supply costs
necessary to provide NextEra Energy Resources' full energy and
capacity requirement services; inability or failure by NextEra
Energy Resources to manage properly or hedge effectively the
commodity risk within its portfolio; effect of reductions in the
liquidity of energy markets on NextEra Energy's ability to manage
operational risks; effectiveness of NextEra Energy's and FPL's risk
management tools associated with their hedging and trading
procedures to protect against significant losses, including the
effect of unforeseen price variances from historical behavior;
impact of unavailability or disruption of power transmission or
commodity transportation facilities on sale and delivery of power
or natural gas by NextEra Energy, including FPL; exposure of
NextEra Energy and FPL to credit and performance risk from
customers, hedging counterparties and vendors; failure of NextEra
Energy or FPL counterparties to perform under derivative contracts
or of requirement for NextEra Energy or FPL to post margin cash
collateral under derivative contracts; failure or breach of NextEra
Energy's or FPL's information technology systems; risks to NextEra
Energy and FPL's retail businesses from compromise of sensitive
customer data; losses from volatility in the market values of
derivative instruments and limited liquidity in over-the-counter
markets; impact of negative publicity; inability of FPL to
maintain, negotiate or renegotiate acceptable franchise agreements
with municipalities and counties in Florida; occurrence of work strikes or
stoppages and increasing personnel costs; NextEra Energy's ability
to successfully identify, complete and integrate acquisitions,
including the effect of increased competition for acquisitions;
environmental, health and financial risks associated with NextEra
Energy Resources' and FPL's ownership and operation of nuclear
generation facilities; liability of NextEra Energy and FPL for
significant retrospective assessments and/or retrospective
insurance premiums in the event of an incident at certain nuclear
generation facilities; increased operating and capital expenditures
and/or reduced revenues at nuclear generation facilities of NextEra
Energy or FPL resulting from orders or new regulations of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission; inability to operate any of NextEra
Energy Resources' or FPL's owned nuclear generation units through
the end of their respective operating licenses; effect of
disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the credit and capital
markets or actions by third parties in connection with
project-specific or other financing arrangements on NextEra
Energy's and FPL's ability to fund their liquidity and capital
needs and meet their growth objectives; inability of NextEra
Energy, FPL and NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, Inc. to maintain
their current credit ratings; impairment of NextEra Energy's and
FPL's liquidity from inability of credit providers to fund their
credit commitments or to maintain their current credit ratings;
poor market performance and other economic factors that could
affect NextEra Energy's defined benefit pension plan's funded
status; poor market performance and other risks to the asset values
of NextEra Energy's and FPL's nuclear decommissioning funds;
changes in market value and other risks to certain of NextEra
Energy's investments; effect of inability of NextEra Energy
subsidiaries to pay upstream dividends or repay funds to NextEra
Energy or of NextEra Energy's performance under guarantees of
subsidiary obligations on NextEra Energy's ability to meet its
financial obligations and to pay dividends on its common stock; the
fact that the amount and timing of dividends payable on NextEra
Energy's common stock, as well as the dividend policy approved by
NextEra Energy's board of directors from time to time, and changes
to that policy, are within the sole discretion of NextEra Energy's
board of directors and, if declared and paid, dividends may be in
amounts that are less than might be expected by shareholders;
NextEra Energy Partners, LP's inability to access sources of
capital on commercially reasonable terms could have an effect on
its ability to consummate future acquisitions and on the value of
NextEra Energy's limited partner interest in NextEra Energy
Operating Partners, LP; effects of disruptions, uncertainty or
volatility in the credit and capital markets on the market price of
NextEra Energy's common stock; and the ultimate severity and
duration of public health crises, epidemics and pandemics,
including the coronavirus pandemic, and its effects on NextEra
Energy's or FPL's businesses. NextEra Energy and FPL discuss these
and other risks and uncertainties in their annual report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31,
2020 and other Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
filings, and this news release should be read in conjunction with
such SEC filings. The forward-looking statements made in this news
release are made only as of the date of this news release and
NextEra Energy and FPL undertake no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
1 On Jan. 1, 2021, Gulf
Power, which serves customers in Northwest Florida, legally combined with FPL.
Gulf Power will continue as a separate operating division under the
Gulf Power name through 2021.
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SOURCE Florida Power & Light
Company; NextEra Energy, Inc.