Duke Energy Florida customers can expect to see lower bills in 2021.
The company plans to decrease Florida residential rates by 2.8 percent while making grid improvements to enhance reliability, security and resilience in 2021 and beyond. The rate reflects an expected decrease in Duke Energy Florida’s storm cost recovery and fuel charges, a news release says.
Rates for the coming year also will reflect grid reliability investments to reduce the number and duration of outages, as well as Duke Energy Florida’s annual capacity, energy conservation, storm protection plan and environmental compliance clause costs.
If approved, typical residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt-hours will see a decrease of $3.63, or 2.8 percent, in their monthly bill beginning this January. Commercial and industrial customers will see bill impacts ranging from a 6.6 percent decrease to a 1.1 percent increase.
However, the specific bill impact will vary depending on several factors. This decrease will be partially offset when rates are adjusted to include the investments in the Twin Rivers and Santa Fe solar plants as they come online in early 2021.
“In 2021, Duke Energy Florida is bringing new services and technologies to our customers while lowering costs and keeping residential rates for electricity lower than the national average,” said Catherine Stempien, Duke Energy Florida state president. “While our customers’ bills are decreasing, we know some of them continue to face financial hardships. We’re providing enhanced care and expanded assistance for those impacted by the pandemic.”
Duke Energy Florida has been proactively working with customers who are accumulating past-due balances on their utility bills, offering payment plans to mitigate potentially more significant financial challenges in the future. The company will continue to provide assistance to residential and business customers whose accounts have fallen behind due to illness or lost wages, the release says.
Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns a diverse generation mix of natural gas, coal and renewables, providing about 10,200 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 1.8 million customers in a 13,000-square-mile service area.
