Electric bills jolt Southwest Florida

January cold spell meant higher costs By LAURA RUANE, The News-Press

Shocking, wasn’t it?

For most Southwest Floridians, electric bills soared in January, fueled by higher oil and natural gas costs and the lingering cold weather.

Faced with bills as much as twice their normal size, customers are flooding the phone lines at Florida Power & Light’s call centers in Miami and West Palm Beach, said Grover Whidden, local FPL spokesman.

And, because all of Southwest Florida doesn’t have the same electric company and billing cycles, some customers haven’t made the chilling discovery yet.

Even though customers are forewarned of rate increases in previous bill inserts, “they’re surprised by how much power they used,” Whidden said.

To ease the pressure, “some of our field reps in Fort Myers who usually would be doing home energy surveys have been called in to answer the phones. We want to be responsive to customers, and their questions about their bills,” Whidden said.

Lee County Electric Cooperative has noticed only a few more bill-related calls, said Karen Ryan, spokeswoman for the North Fort Myers-based utility.

The two utilities are about a month apart in passing along the higher power-generation costs. On Jan. 1, FPL customer rates rose 8.7 percent, an increase that the state Public Service Commission approved in September. For a home using 1,000 kilowatt hours, that added $6.43 to the bill, for a total charge of $80.55.

A brochure mailed in January to FPL customers noted the cost of oil used to produce electricity has been a “pass through” on customer bills. When fuel costs were low, as they were for much of the 1990s, the savings were passed directly on to customers. When fuel costs go up, that also is reflected on customer bills.

The electric cooperative hasn’t raised its base rate, Ryan said. However, as of Feb. 1, a “power cost adjustment credit” vanished, effectively increasing bills by $5. Beginning this month, a home using 1,000 kilowatt hours will be charged $79.60, as opposed to $74.60 last month.

The cooperative does not generate electricity, but purchases it. The power-cost adjustment varies according to what generating utilities are charging. In 1999, customers got a $13 credit; in 1981, there was a $14 additional charge.

The power-cost charges wouldn’t have been so painful without the cold spell. After a string of mild winters, last month was one of the coldest Januaries on record. This year, January had 15 days at or below 45 degrees. Five were in the 30s.

“We advise customers to set their thermostats to 68 degrees. Each degree over 68 adds 6 percent to your bill,” Ryan said, adding: “When the weather is cold, your heater is working more to keep the inside of your home at 68 degrees. It uses more electricity, and your bill goes up.”

For FPL customers statewide, overall power use was up 16 percent for the 30 days ending Jan. 10, compared with the same period a year ago, an FPL spokeswoman in Miami said.

There is a bright side to the flurry of calls, utility spokesmen said. On these calls, customers who might have pitched informative bill-stuffers usually are asked whether they want details on how they can whittle their power costs, including free home energy surveys and incentives to repair or upgrade their electrical systems.

Those with access to the Internet can get these same tips at www.fpl.org or www.lcec.net, Web sites for Florida Power & Light and Lee County Electric Cooperative, respectively.

— Contact Laura Ruane at lruane@news-press.com or 335-0392.

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 04, 2001