Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
FPL wants to charge you extra for Irma cleanup
Fee would be added through 2020
Florida Power & Light Co. will propose additional storm surcharges to state regulators to recover what it says are $1.3 billion in costs from September’s Hurricane Irma, the company’s parent, NextEra Energy announced Thursday.
The surcharge on customer bills would be an additional $4 a month during 2018, and then would rise to $5.50 from 2019-20, to recover its costs to restore power after Irma. Those are the proposed costs for a typical 1,000 kilowatt monthly residential electric bill.
“The surcharge would remain in effect until Hurricane Irma recovery costs are fully recovered, which is expected by the end of 2020,” according to FPL spokesman David Mcdermitt.
The initial surcharge would be timed to be added to bills in March when one of the current storm surcharges, for 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, expires, said John Ketchum, chief financial officer.
FPL’s typical residential electric bill is currently $102.62 a month.
The Florida Public Service Commission, which regulates FPL and other public utilities in the state, would have to approve the new surcharge. The proposal has not yet been filed with the PSC.
“We will have to consider it within 60 days after the filing date,” said Cindy Muir, spokeswoman for the PSC.
Florida Public Counsel J.R. Kelly, who represents the state’s consumers, said he would likely contest an Irma storm surcharge as high as $5.50 a month. But he said FPL is within its rights to proceed with a $4 surcharge for 12 months.
FPL customers currently pay two monthly storm surcharges, $3.36 for Matthew and $1.32 for several hurricanes that struck the state in 2004 and 2005.
The Matthew surcharge was approved for 12 months to cover $293 million in costs. It expires in March. The 2004-2005 hurricane surcharges expire in August 2019.
FPL filed its cost-recovery report for Matthew earlier this month. The four-page submission, which includes a one-page cover letter, outlines costs such as payroll, overtime, contractors, line clearing, fuel and logistics.
As a result of its settlement agreement in 2016 with the PSC and other parties, FPL can charge up to $4 a month in storm recovery costs for 12 months, beginning 60 days after it files a petition with the commission. Additional costs may be recovered in subsequent years if approved by the PSC.
NextEra’s CFO made the surcharge announcement Thursday in connection with the company’s thirdquarter earnings, which saw nearly a 13 percent increase in quarterly earnings. But revenues were flat compared with a year ago.
Earnings beat analysts’ expectations, but the Juno Beach-based energy company missed on revenues.
NextEra has been trading near its 52-week high of $154.70 a share, closing at $153.86 on Wednesday, down 36 cents or 0.23 percent.
NextEra reported thirdquarter net income of $847 million, or $1.79 a share, compared to $753 million, or $1.62 a share, in the third quarter of 2016. NextEra revenues were $4.8 billion for the quarter, nearly unchanged from a year ago.
Subsidiary FPL reported third-quarter net income of $566 million, or $1.19 a share, compared to $515 million, or $1.11 a share, for the prioryear quarter. One factor was an increase in customers: FPL’s customer count increased by about 62,000, or 1.3 percent, from same period a year ago.
FPL’s quarterly operating revenues were $3.5 billion compared with $3.3 billion a year ago.
There was no discussion in NextEra’s news release of the impact from Hurricane Irma, which knocked out power to more than 90 percent of FPL customers on Sept. 10-11. FPL attributed the massive outage to fallen trees and other flying debris, as well as hurricane-wind gusts. In South Florida, Irma brought mostly tropicalstorm force winds.
NextEra is the holding company for FPL, a regulated public electric utility that provides electricity for half the state, as well as its competitive energy business, NextEra Energy Resources, which has 70 percent of its assets in windgenerated power.
NextEra Energy Resources’ contribution to third-quarter adjusted earnings per share increased by two cents over a year ago, driven by new investments, the company said.
Florida’s Public Service Commission, which regulates FPL, has set up a link on its website for residents to give their feedback on how Florida’s electric utilities responded to Hurricane Irma. See “Consumer Comments on Hurricane Preparedness and Restoration” in red on the PSC’s webpage, floridapsc.com.
“We want to hear from customers about their power restoration time and how utility information was provided to them before, during, and after the storm,” said PSC Chairman Julie Brown.
The feedback will be considered by the commission in its review of public utilities’ storm preparedness and performance, the PSC says.