Business today

PSC TO VOTE ON REFUND: The Florida Public Service Commission plans to vote May 6 to resolve a dispute between Progress Energy Florida Inc. and the Office of Public Counsel over how large a refund the St. Petersburg utility owes its customers under a rate-reduction settlement reached last year. At stake is an $18.2-million discrepancy between the two sides' calculations. Representatives of Progress, the public counsel and the PSC staff met Thursday in a sometimes-testy discussion about the issue. Progress executives argued that adjustments they made in the refund's calculations were "implied" in last year's agreement. Public counsel Jack Shreve countered, "The agreement is exactly what we agreed to ... . We want the agreement as it stands."

TECO FINDS CZECH MATE: TECO Energy Inc. said Thursday that Swiss utility Aare-Tessin AG fuer Elektrizitaet purchased TECO's 26 percent interest in a 343-megawatt power plant in the Czech Republic. TECO said it has received most of the $33-million it expects to receive for the sale and related transactions. TECO said the deal isn't expected to affect its 2003 financial results.

ROAD RUNNER STUMBLES: Time Warner Cable's Road Runner Internet service crashed Thursday morning, cutting off service to all Tampa Bay area customers. The interruption was caused by the failure of switching equipment at Time Warner's regional data center in Tampa, according to Dave Ross, general manager for high-speed online services at Time Warner Cable, which will be known as Bright House Networks starting April 1. The company began restoring service after the equipment was replaced about 8:30 a.m., Ross said, although some customers reported their Internet connection was down well into the afternoon. Road Runner customers can receive a one-day credit for the failure, but to get it they must call the customer service number on their monthly bills.

SYKES WITHHOLDS BONUSES: Sykes Enterprises did not pay its top executives a bonus in 2002, the Tampa company said in its annual report Thursday, but chairman and chief executive John Sykes was well-compensated nonetheless. CEO Sykes took home $550,281 in salary, options to purchase 1.25-million shares of company stock and $47,139 in other compensation. On Jan. 1, his base salary was raised to $792,478 to reflect the cost of a life insurance policy previously paid for by the company, according to the filing. Separately, Sykes Enterprises announced that Hugh McColl, former chairman and chief executive at Bank of America, is resigning from its board for "personal reasons." Sykes's stock closed Thursday at $4.09, up 3 cents.

DELTA TO INDIANAPOLIS: Delta Connection announced Thursday it will add two daily non-stop flights from Tampa International Airport to Indianapolis beginning June 1. Chautauqua Airlines will operate the nonstop service with Embraer regional jets.

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