Residential bills would remain among Florida’s lowest and below national average
Tampa Electric customers could see slightly higher bills beginning in January, according to an annual adjustment to reflect the prices of fuel and other factors.
The company this week filed projected costs for fuel and other clauses with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC). If the PSC approves the requests as filed, a residential customer's monthly bill would rise by $1.32 to $106 for 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh), about a 1 percent rise from the current $104.68 a month. Commercial and industrial customers would see bills rise by approximately 2 percent.
"Tampa Electric continues to have some of the lowest rates in Florida," said Gordon Gillette, president and chief executive officer of Tampa Electric. "We are proud to provide outstanding value to our customers every day – for about the cost of a gallon of milk."
The PSC is expected to vote on the fuel, conservation and environmental cost adjustments after a hearing scheduled to begin Oct. 25.
If the request is approved as filed, Tampa Electric residential customers' bills would remain about 17 percent below the national average – which is $127.20 per month, according to June 2017 data from the Energy Information Administration.
Although natural gas prices remain low, the proposed increase is due to a 2017 refund to customers that is cycling off bills for 2018. The refund was related to over-collected fuel expense from a previous year.
The company estimates that by the end of 2017 it will spend $36 million less on fuel than originally projected. The fuel portion of the bill is based on actual costs for natural gas and coal during the first six months of 2017, projections for the remainder of 2017 and expected fuel prices in 2018.
Tampa Electric's fuel mix is predominantly comprised of coal and natural gas. The cost of fuel is a substantial portion of an electric bill, currently about one-third of a residential customer's bill. Fuel costs are passed through from fuel suppliers to our customers with no markup or profit to Tampa Electric. Tampa Electric maximizes the use of existing low-cost, well-performing plants and power purchased from other companies to mitigate costs and pass the savings to customers.
Tampa Electric, one of Florida's largest investor-owned electric utilities, serves about 730,000 customers in West Central Florida. Tampa Electric is a subsidiary of Emera Inc., a geographically diverse energy and services company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
