 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Utility proposes variable rate fees
By STEVE HUETTEL For the first time, Florida Power wants to charge residential customers different rates based on how much electricity they use. The utility would charge one rate for the first 1,000 kilowatt hours a customer uses each month and a penny more for each kilowatt hour over that amount, the company said in a filing with the Florida Public Service Commission. Florida Power proposed the new residential rate structure to encourage energy conservation, spokesman Rick Janka said. He could not say specifically what the new rates would be. Nor would they take effect for months to come, assuming they win regulatory approval. But the rate for up to 1,000 kilowatts a month, roughly the amount used by a typical residential customer, would drop under the plan, he said. Customers using more than 1,500 kilowatt hours would see their monthly bills go up, Janka said. The so-called "inverted" rate structure is used by the cities of St. Petersburg and Tampa to encourage water customers to conserve. Florida Power & Light has charged residential customers using more than 750 kilowatt hours per month a higher rate since 1977. "We did it to encourage conservation and, secondarily, as a way of assisting low-income families," said Bill Swank, spokesman for the state's largest electric utility. Tampa Electric Co. does not offer different residential rates based on consumption. The PSC is conducting an extensive review of rates charged by Florida Power, the state's No. 2 utility with 1.4-million customers in an area stretching from Pinellas County east to Orlando and north to Tallahassee. Florida Power proposed the two-tier residential rate Thursday as part of that case, which the commission is scheduled to hear next summer. The utility also wants to change rates for its peak/off-peak pricing program. Florida Power has long offered the program that gives discounts for using power during periods of low demand and higher rates for peak times: noon to 9 p.m. in spring and summer; 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in fall and winter. But the company hasn't promoted the program and now has only about 60 customers enrolled, Janka said. Under the proposal, Florida Power would narrow the price difference between peak and off-peak power, he said. -- Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times Business report
From the AP
|
