The dispute involves only a fraction of FPL’s customers, but it is part of a broader controversy in which critics say they worry the new meter technology could pose threats to their privacy or health.
fpl
2 Men Electrocuted By Power Line in Attempt To Plant Flagpole at Cloverdale Ct. Home
The men struck a 13,000-volt power line as they were attempting to plant a long flagpole–bearing an American flag and an Italian flag–down a plastic bracing pipe right under the neighborhood’s power line.
Supreme Court Rebuffs Consumer Advocate Challenge of FPL’s $350 Million Rate Hike
The state Office of Public Counsel, which represents consumers in utility issues, fought the rate increases that stemmed from a deal reached by FPL and some major power users. The Florida Public Service Commission approved a $350 million base-rate increase, along with plans for additional increases tied to three new power plants.
FPL Posts Profits of $1.35 Billion in 2013, an 8.9% Increase Over 2012, as Rate Hikes Kick In
FPL serves virtually all residential and commercial customers in Flagler County. Late last year, the Florida Public Service Commission approved a 5 percent increase in FPL’s utility bills, and the company continues to charge customers for future nuclear power plant construction that may never take place.
FPL Customers Will See Power Bills Increase 5% Starting in January, Adding to Other Local Utility Hikes
For Palm Coast residents, the rate increase compounds steeper utility rate increases as the city raised its water and sewer rates 8 percent in April, another 4 percent in October, and will raise them again 4 percent next October. The typical combined annual price increase: $175.
FPL Customers in Flagler Will Again Pay Nuke Surcharge for Plants at Least 10 Years Off
A residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month will pay about $5.5 extra a year, but the cost is part of a broader controversy over a law that allows utility companies to charge customers for power-plant construction that hasn’t even begun yet, and may never be completed.
Dispute Over Possibly Improper Rate Hikes Pits FPL’s 1% Against 99% of Customers
The state Supreme Court took up a challenge Thursday to hundreds of millions of dollars in rate increases approved last year for Florida Power & Light ij an agreement one Justice said reflected the wishes of 1 percent of commercial users against the wishes of 99 percent of FPL’s remaining customers.
Duke-Progress Energy Won’t Build Troubled $25 Billion Nuke Reactors in Levy County
Customers will be required to pay as much as $1.466 billion over 20 years to cover continuing costs at the defective and shuttered Crystal River plant, and they will not be refunded the $150 million they’ve paid in up-front costs for the Levy reactors.
Radiation Sickness: Florida Republicans Tiring of Up-Front Utility Rates for Nukes
Four Republican senators said Thursday they will try to revamp a controversial 2006 law that has led to utility customers paying hundreds of millions of dollars for nuclear-power projects — but stopped short of calling for a total repeal.
For FPL Customers, Bills $20 Higher in 2013 for Nuke-Plant Construction That May Never Happen
Flagler County customers of FPL will pay an additional $1.69 a month, or $20 for the year in 2013, for nuclear-plant construction slated for the distant future, and that may never take place. It’s the third year in a row that customers are paying those up-front costs.
Get Set for Higher Power Bills in January as FPL Bids for Annual Increases Through 2016
A house consuming the typical 1,000 kWh would see its base monthly rate increase by $5.23, but if a state settlement is approved with FPL, there would actually be no change in net costs to customers in the coming year, but the settlement would also ensure that there would be rate increases every year for three straight years thereafter.
Smart Meters and the Paranoia of Fake Fears
With smart meters as with numerous other issues, some of our most basic scientific or technological advances are being held hostage to perversions of evidence no more legitimate than superstition and sham controversies.
Should You Keep Paying FPL and PEF For Nukes Plants that May Never Be Built?
The up-front nuclear costs for plant construction have become highly controversial, at least in part because there is no guarantee that FPL and Progress will build the planned reactors and because projected costs have risen to over $40 billion for four reactors. The Supreme Court will decide the matter.
How a Stumble Saddled Palm Coast Water Rate Payers With $500,000 in Additional Costs
Overeager to get going on a $2.6 million wellfield project during the boom years, Palm Coast never secured an agreement between a land company and FPL to power the wells. When talks broke down between the companies, Palm Coast decided to pay an extra $500,000 to power the wells with a different contractor, a cost it will pass down to rate-payers, even though the need for the water is non-existent.
Customer Wins “Stand Your Ground” Ruling After Confrontation With FPL Bill-Collectors
An appeals court Thursday agreed with the dismissal of criminal charges against a Miami-Dade County man who relied on the state’s “stand your ground” law after a confrontation with two Florida Power & Light workers on his property.
FPL Begins Installing Smart Meters in Flagler as PSC Takes on Devices’ Emitted Controversies
FPL will begin installing 50,000 smart meters in Flagler County this month and continue installing them through the fall, while the Florida Public Service Commission on Thursday devotes a daylong workshop to questions about smart meters and health effects, privacy, data security and alternatives.
Should FPL and Progress Energy Charge You $300 Million for Distant-Future Nukes Plants?
The state’s largest electric utilities are seeking approval from the Florida Public Service Commission to collect money that goes toward upgrading already-existing nuclear plants and helps pay for early work on new reactors that may or may not be built years from now.
FPL Claims Settlement Would Scale Back Rate Hike to $548 Million, But Opponents Cry Foul
The $548 million increase is down from an initial proposal of $690 million, but the state’s Office of Public Counsel, which represents consumers and the Florida Retail Federation, say FPL’s rates should decrease — not increase — next year.
Florida Is 6th Worst Toxic Polluter from Coal-Fired Power Plants Despite Natural Gas Gains
Coal-fired power plants in Florida expose residents to toxic pollution at the sixth highest rate in the nation even as natural gas now accounts for almost two-thirds of the state’s power generation, according to a report by the Natural Resources Defense Council.
As FPL’s Smart Meters Convert 50,000 Flagler Homes, County Takes Dim View of Opponents
Florida Power & Light will roll out 50,000 smart meters in Flagler homes and small businesses over six months beginning this summer. The Flagler County Commission supports an opt-out measure for customers, some of whom thing the smart meters are invasive and dangerous, but FPL already provides a temporary opt-out.
Flagler Residents Would See $84-a-Year Jump in FPL’s Base Rate Despite Solid Profits
Despite higher profits than most industries, Florida Power & Light (FPL) is requesting the $690.4 million rate increase in 2013. FPL says the increase would be offset by fuel cost decreases, at least in 2013, reducing the net bill increase to $2.48 a month.
Driven By Lower Fuel Costs, FPL Projects Lowering Power Bills By $2 a Month in 2012
FPL, the state’s largest utility, said 2012 fuel costs are now projected to be $460 million less than it had anticipated earlier as natural gas costs keep dropping. That won’t affect surcharges for future nuclear power plant construction.
Nuclear Socialism: FPL and Progress Energy Get $282 Million Rate Hike
Though FPL’s and Progress Energy’s nuclear plants may never be built, the Public Service Commission is set to approve billing utility customers now for those future costs.
Major Power Outages in Flagler Restored, But Many Smaller Ones Remain
Winds of up to 60 miles per hour have downed power lines and trees, cutting power for 6,000 customers in Flagler County as of 10:30 p.m. See how you can track your outages and find out reconnection times.
FPL’s $18 Billion Nuclear-Reactor Plans Leak Unanswered Questions Before Florida PSC
FPL’s plan to pass along almost $200 million in nuclear construction costs to consumers in just one year raised a question at the Public Service Commission: why charge customers if the $13 billion to $19 billion nukes plants may never be built?
Florida’s Nuclear Energy Scamming: It’s Not Rickover’s Atomic Power Program Anymore
Customers should not have to pay decades ahead of time for Florida Power & Light’s and Progress Energy’s future nuclear power plans, especially when they may not be built, argues Darrell Smith.
FPL and Progress Energy Again Asking To Pass Along Ghost-Nuke Plant Costs
Florida Power & Light and Progress Energy Florida are seeking to pass along about $335 million in nuclear costs to customers next year, largely to cover costs of nuclear plants that won’t be built for 10 years or more.
Big Stand Against Espanola Fire at Threatened FPL Powerlines In Hopes of Halting Blaze
Damage to the 500Kv FPL lines would affect local electricity customers. Beyond the powerlines lay pine-tree farms doused in herbicide, which has dried out underbrush, making it easier to burn. And beyond that: U.S. 1.
2,000 Flagler Customers Without Power Late Wednesday Evening; FPL Calls for Patience
Up to 11,000 customers had been without power at one point in Flagler County following a storm that whipped winds of up to 70 miles per hour. Volusia, Brevard and Seminole were also severely hit.
Disaster Ready? 5 Nuclear Reactors in Florida, 3 Of Them Within 180 Miles of Palm Coast
Progress Energy’s Crystal River Plant in west Florida is exactly the same distance–140 miles–separating Tokyo from the exploding Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. Two reactors in Jensen Beach are 180 miles south.
FPL’s Bogus $1.25 Billion Rate Increase: Ex-PSC Commissioner Nathan Skop Tells All
The Florida Public Service Commission was right to turn down all but million of FPL’s rate-increase request last year, former commissioner Nathan Skop says