With natural gas costing less than expected, Florida Power & Light said Monday it will lower customers’ electricity bills in 2012.
The announcement came as something of a surprise: About three weeks ago, state regulators approved FPL proposals that would have led to small increases in monthly bills.
But FPL, the state’s largest utility, said 2012 fuel costs are now projected to be $460 million less than it had anticipated earlier. For residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month, that will translate to bills dropping from $96.54 to $94.62 in January, according to the utility.
FPL President and Chief Executive Officer Armando Olivera said in a prepared statement that the prices of fossil fuels used in power plants “can be volatile, and fluctuations can make a significant impact on our customers’ bills.” He said FPL has phased out older, oil-fired plants in recent years.
“At the same time, market prices of natural gas for 2012 are trending even lower than previously expected, and this is driving a significant reduction in our projected fuel costs for the coming year,” he said.
Robert Scheffel Wright, an attorney who represents the Florida Retail Federation in utility issues, said FPL is such a large natural-gas user that changes in gas prices can have a significant impact.
“That (the FPL announcement Monday) is obviously a good thing for everybody,” Wright said.
