FPL wants to boost bills in April to recoup costs related to Ian and natural gas

Florida Power & Light customers could face increased electric bills in

April after the utility got hit in 2022 by hurricanes and higher-than-expected costs for natural gas.

FPL said Monday it will ask the state Public Service Commission to approve collecting $1.3 billion from customers to recoup costs related to Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole. It also will seek to collect about $2.1 billion because of high natural-gas prices in 2022 — though that would be partially offset by reducing the amount that FPL expects to collect for 2023 gas costs by $1 billion.

“FPL has a proven track record of keeping bills below the national average. When events beyond our control — like hurricanes and significant changes in fuel prices — force a change to customer bills, we try to do so in a thoughtful way that minimizes the impact on our customers while balancing the risk of invoices piling up,” FPL Chairman and CEO Eric Silagy said in a prepared statement.

The proposals would come on top of increased bills that took effect this month for many customers and additional hikes that will take effect in February.

In addressing rates, utilities point to a benchmark of residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month. FPL residential customers saw their 1,000kilowatt hour bills increase from $120.67 to $125.39 in January. Such bills will go up again to $129.59 in February, according to information released last month by the Public Service Commission. Under the new proposals, they would go to $142.88 in April, FPL said Monday.

FPL would collect the hurricane-related costs over 12 months and the 2022 fuel costs over 21 months. It would apply the offset for 2023 fuel costs over nine months. Utilities have grappled for the past year with high costs of natural gas, which plays a major role in fueling power plants.