How Your Bills Are Impacted

On Jan. 7, 2008, residential customers’ bills decreased by $0.94 per 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh), to $102.49. In contrast, residential customers nationwide who use 1,000 kWh a month pay $108.79, according to the Edison Electric Institute, an industry trade association. Commercial and industrial customers’ bills saw similar decreases.

While FPL projects that natural gas prices will remain flat and residual oil fuel prices will increase moderately next year, a significant factor helping to drive down costs is increased fuel efficiency at FPL’s fossil fuel power plants. FPL’s fossil fuel power plant fleet is the top performer among large-scale utilities nationwide and has become 12 percent more efficient in the past five years. Efficiency at these facilities has grown by 17 percent since 1990.

There are three other things you should know about the fuel charge on your bill:

1. We buy only the fuel required to serve you and meet your electricity consumption needs – there has been a 30 percent increase in consumption per household since 1985.
2. We make no profit on the fuel charge portion of your bill. Fuel prices are a direct pass-through, so you’ll never pay a penny over what we pay to cover our fuel costs.
3. Fuel prices on the world market are volatile To keep our fuel expenses more stable, we maintain a diverse portfolio of generation sources – including nuclear and coal – and are able to switch fuels at some plants when prices of one type of fuel are lower.

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) approved this decrease to your electric bills on Nov.6, 2007.