The Florida Public Commission approved Duke Energy Florida’s multiyear rate agreement that goes into effect in January.
Customers will see an average annual 2% base rate increase throughout the period. The energy company says that revenue will go toward future developments that will lower energy costs over time.
However, customers will no longer be paying for the 2022 field under-recovery, storm restoration cost recovery, and some legacy purchased power contracts.
Removing these costs will lower customers’ overall bills, according to Duke.
“Several different charges are coming off the bill, that add up to a total of a billion dollars, will help reduce the total bill for customers January of 2025,” Duke’s Director of Public Affairs and Corporate Communications Ana Gibbs said.
Gibbs said a customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours will save around $8 on their electric bills in January.
The settlement doesn’t ask for a base rate increase in 2027. But Gibbs said it is too early to tell what the bills will look like in 2026.
“Powerplants will be upgraded and help customers save in the sense that we will be able to produce more power for less fuel and that means customers saving,” she said. “We estimate customers will save between $150 million to $200 million a year in reduced fuel costs from the power plants.”
The agreement also enables Duke to continue making investments to reduce outages, shorten response times, meet future energy demands, increase clean solar generation, and explore innovative technologies.
“We are building 12 new solar power plants between 2025 and 2027 that adds another 900 megawatts of clean energy to Florida grids,” said Gibbs
She said the company has already been building solar and by the end of the year, there will be 1500 megawatts of solar on the grid.
The plan in the future is to have about 4500 megawatts of utility skills solar generated online.
Having less fuel usage will contribute to one part of the bill decrease.
One of the groups that was a part of the unanimous approval, is the Sierra Club, the oldest and largest environmental advocacy organization nationwide.
The group said it will support Duke during this period so long as Duke remains focused on transitioning to cleaner energy sources.
The Sierra Club did not sign the settlement agreement but has agreed not to oppose it, if they follow these commitments for looking into cleaner energy.
“We didn’t sign the agreement because Duke is still expanding gas compacity instead of leaning into solar, especially with solar compared with battery,” said Randolph.
But they want to be there to help with the transition to cleaner energy that Duke said they plan to do.
Randolph said that having clean renewable energy will be a more affordable, reliable, and cleaner way to help fight climate change.
“We are monitoring the gas in all of it. This settlement agreement is promising that it expands away from dirty expensive coal,” said Randolph.
Duke has agreed to do a comprehensive study to explore the potential for retiring coal-fired Crystal River units. There will also be a study on how solar power can contribute to a more reliable and stable source.
“They are looking at and doing the math for what it would be to look for earlier coal retirement for what they are currently planning with the Crystal River unit for 2034,” Randolph said.
She said that they have noticed when companies do this math and look at how expensive it is to use coal, they are retiring their units much quicker and hope Duke does the same.
Another component is Duke will agree not to disconnect electricity for nonpayment bills when temperatures are 95 degrees or higher.
This multiyear rate will affect the 2 million residents that use Duke and customers will notice a change from their December bills to January.
