Florida Power's rates more revolting with every rise

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By ROBERT TRIGAUX

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 9, 2001

If Florida Power Corp.'s electric rates go much higher, let's ship the utility off to power-desperate California. There, its prices won't seem so sky-high.

For most of the 1990s, the St. Petersburg utility topped all major Florida utilities in residential rates. Now it seems hellbent on breaking all-time prices in the state. Florida Power charged in the mid-$80s for 1,000 kilowatt hours (enough to run a modest Florida home for a month) a few years ago. Then the company bumped its rates to $88, then $89 and finally broke the $90 barrier.

This week, for the third time in less than a year, state regulators okayed another price increase (to reflect higher costs of fuel used to run power plants). In three weeks, Florida Power will start charging a whopping $93.41 per 1,000 KWH. Neighboring Tampa Electric Co. also is raising rates, staying a close No. 2 to Florida Power in price.

Sure, nearly all electric utilities nationwide are raising prices after watching the cost of natural gas (used to run newer power plants) blow through the roof. And yes, Florida utilities are able to deliver consistent power at a time when California is still threatened by blackouts and horrendous price increases.

But at some point, Florida Power customers might want to ask: What gives? Is Florida Power's rate-adjusting switch stuck on UP?

Three states to the north, Florida Power's still-new owner -- North Carolina-based Progress Energy -- might want to take a tougher look at a newly acquired utility that has yet to get a grip on efficiency. The Progress Energy bigshots have dropped some hints that they'd like to find a way to lower rates in Florida, but so far it's been all talk and no action.

Progress Energy's other utility, Carolina Power & Light, currently charges North Carolina customers just $81.59 for 1,000 KWH. That's an eye-opening $11.82 cheaper for the same, basic commodity.

Over a year, that means a Floridian household pays at least $142 more for electricity than a similar-sized household in North Carolina.

Let's do the math. In this state, Florida Power serves 1.4-million customers. That means Florida Power charges Floridians a total of $199-million more annually than its sister utility charges North Carolina customers for the same amount of electricity.

Some might call that a pretty heavy surcharge Floridians must pay to an electricity provider who -- for now -- runs a monopoly.

Short takes

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In the swirl of call-center closings, you lose some and you win some. As WorldCom and SBC shutter local call centers, here's some good news. Telespectrum Worldwide is closing an upstate New York, 300-employee call center in Cheektowaga. And the company, whose centers are handling calls for Verizon, says all calls once handled in Cheektowaga will go to centers in Norfolk, Va., Birmingham, Ala., and good ol' Tampa. . . .

Some companies never die, just move away and try new identities. Viking Resources, a company focused on "aviation acquisitions," unsuccessfully tried to buy Kiwi International Airlines out of bankruptcy. Now it says it is interested in purchasing troubled, Dallas-based Legend Airlines. Tampa Bay folks might remember Viking from the mid-1990s, when it operated here as a tire-recycling business.

- Robert Trigaux can be reached at trigaux@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8405.

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