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Shocking

Higher costs passed on to utility customers and the hottest July/August on record in the bay area are provoking surprised reactions from some Progress Energy customers.

By LOUIS HAU
Published September 16, 2005

When Sharron Loyd paid her latest Progress Energy Florida electric bill, it came with a jolt.

The 53-year-old St. Petersburg resident typically pays the utility about $170 a month for electricity at this time of the year. But this bill was about $60 higher.

"It was like, "Oh!,' " she said. "But I went ahead and paid it."

Many area utility customers this week are stunned to find their monthly electric bills are sharply higher than expected.

The chief culprit: air-conditioning costs that surged amid record-high temperatures in July and August.

But the jump in monthly bills has been especially harsh for customers of Progress, which serves more than 1.5-million customers in Florida, including those in Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties.

In addition to seeing their power consumption rise this summer, Progress customers are paying a higher rate for their electricity.

And more sticker shock is coming. Progress and Tampa Electric said last week they plan to raise their residential electric rates by 10 to 11 percent in January to pay for the rising cost of fuel for their power plants.

During the past year, Progress's monthly residential rate for the first 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity rose by 10 percent from $89.11 to $97.78. That increase included a $5.32 rate hike at the beginning of the year for higher fuel costs, a $3.27 surcharge added to bills in August for hurricane recovery costs and related taxes.

Tampa Electric customers have been spared similar hikes. While Tampa Electric's residential rate of $98.07 per 1,000 kilowatt hours is the highest of any Florida investor-owned utility, it is slightly lower than it was a year ago. The company didn't sustain nearly as much hurricane damage as Progress and was able to avoid assessing a storm surcharge. In addition, regulators ordered the company to charge customers less for the cost of having coal delivered to its power plants.

But some Progress customers are shaking their heads over the size of their latest bills.

Seminole real estate agent Jackie Lynn said her electric bill usually totals about $75 to $90 in the summer.

On Tuesday, she received a bill for $136.50, which she described as "the highest I've ever had."

While Lynn, 39, believes the size of her bill is reasonable for this time of year, she said she was surprised by its size because she hadn't done anything differently to cause her bill to rise so sharply.

Meanwhile, Loyd, a commission specialist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, said she usually keeps her thermostat set at about 76 degrees all day. Now she's considering raising it to 80 degrees when she's not at home.

Loyd isn't happy with the prospect of seeing her electric rate rise again in January.

"I think they get enough already," she said.

Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Louis Hau can be reached at hau@sptimes.com or 813 226-3404.

[Last modified September 16, 2005, 01:35:22]