ST. PETERSBURG - Progress Energy Florida Inc. customers will be receiving a one-time refund of about $8 to $10 in their next bill.
The modest refund, which goes only to those who were customers in 2003, is the latest installment in the company's revenue-sharing agreement with the state.
The St. Petersburg utility said Friday it will pay out $18.4-million, down from its refund last year of about $23.5-million, because of a slight decline in its 2003 revenue. For a typical household that consumed an average of 1,200 to 1,400 kilowatt hours per month last year, that will result in a refund of $8.23 to $9.60.
The revenue-sharing agreement was part of a rate-reduction settlement that Progress reached with the public counsel's office and other consumer advocates in March 2002. The Florida Public Service Commission approved the settlement the following month. The settlement, which also included a permanent reduction of $125-million in Progress Florida's base rate, ensured that the utility's customers would share in the cost savings from Carolina Power & Light's 2000 acquisition of Florida Progress Corp.
Under the approved revenue-sharing formula, Progress was allowed to generate $1.296-billion in revenue from ratepayers in 2002 and $37-million more each year through 2005. If the company generates as much as $60-million over its annual ceiling, two-thirds of the excess must be refunded to customers. Any excess revenue beyond $60-million would be returned to taxpayers.
Last March, Progress distributed a revenue-sharing refund of $5-million, about $18-million less than Jack Shreve, who was public counsel at the time, said the formula called for. After a bruising battle before the PSC, the commission sided with Shreve and ordered Progress to refund its customers the remaining $18-million. Progress included the refund in its October customer bills.
Progress spokesman Aaron Perlut said this year's refund uses the same formula that the PSC upheld in last year's dispute.
- Louis Hau can be reached at hau@sptimes.com or 813 226-3404.
