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Gulf Power Asks For Delay For Customer Storm Restoration Charge
March 19, 2019
Gulf Power wants to delay a plan for a few months to collect an estimated $342 million from customers for Hurricane Michael recovery costs, according to a filing with the Florida Public Service Commission.
The utility had asked the PSC for permission to start collecting the costs in April, but now they want to delay that until July.
The increase amounts to about $8 a month for a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month of electricity, which the company said would still make the average customer’s bill lower than the January 2018. Commercial and industrial customers will see bills increase by 3 to 8 percent depending on their rate plan.
The Public Service Commission was set to consider the plan at an April 2 meeting, but now Gulf Power wants the PSC to hear the request on May 14.
“Hurricane Michael was the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Northwest Florida, with Panama City and the surrounding areas of Bay County nearly destroyed, including critical infrastructure and the energy grid that serves our customers,” said Gulf Power President Marlene Santos is a news release.. “We know that many of our customers continue to face challenges due to the aftermath of Hurricane Michael and we have worked hard to propose a plan to the Florida Public Service Commission that takes this into account and supports our ability to continue to serve them with reliable service now and into the future.”
Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Comments
16 Responses to “Gulf Power Asks For Delay For Customer Storm Restoration Charge”
That is why I am going solar! Protect myself from those increases…
I love when I tell Gulp Power employees that we the customer own the lines since we paid for them….the FIRST thing they say is “we didnt pay for them, Gulp did”…then I remind them of stuff like this….LOL!!!
GP makes money selling electricity.
If they want to sell electricity, they should be they should bear the brunt of the cost to deliver the product to the customer.
Maybe the money spent on advertising could be spent on repairs instead.
GP wont be spending money moving employees from state to state anymore, and buying their houses, so that money should be available as well.
Are we the customers going to have to pay for the multiple trailer loads of parts that were grossly over-bought for the restoration effort?
Gulp power should be required to put money in a reserve or have insurance LIKE WE ALL ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE. Gulp is a JOKE. If we pay for the lines then we own them and we DEMAND some other companies come in and use OUR LINES THAT WE PAID FOR AND LOWER THE DAMN RATES!!!!
I think everyone who qualifies has an opportunity to own there power by going solar which helps with any rate increases. Gulf power got bought out by NextEra energy an Gulf power was already in debt. So there is no profits at the moment! They gotta do what they have to in order to keep the lights on!
I told everyone back in January to watch out. every time we get q decrease an increase is coming and here is the start of it. moneys should come from their profits not fixed income customers that have no choice where their power comes from. so watch out, every time we have a hurricane you the consumer must pay for it. I heard in a story yesterday that this fee would be in place 5 years. I think it will be permanent with more to follow. thank you golf power.
Mat frist off were not talking about losing “1 or 2″ power poles here were talking hundreds of man hours, fuel costs to get them there and probably hundreds of power poles and miles of lines that needed to be fixed/replaces the cost im sure was not small.
You are off your rocker if you think losing an enter store let alone two wouldn’t raise prices at the check out.
its just a matter of time before they use the word ( capital improvement ) like other companys are using, instead of fees and other ways to get more money. but government isn’t doing anything about it…enough is enough
Kane-
As of last count Walmart had 11,695 stores worldwide.
Home Depot 2200+ store in North America and
Lowes, 2390 stores (as of Feb 2018).
Losing 1 or 2 stores for any of these companies
would not make them raise their prices.
Kane on March 19th, 2019 12:25 pm: Thank you. Even the power company employees have to pay their bills, no discounts allowed. And depending on where you live on the Gulf Coast, you may be served by an Electric Co-op, not Gulf Power.
Maybe take some of our tax dollars already being spent on illegals, and re-direct it here.
@Jackie FEMA did not pay gulf power for the hurricane or provide them funds to repair power lines/poles.
@Mat Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes would absolutely not just “absorb the cost” they would pass that cost on to their customers by raising prices that’s how business recoup losses ALL business do this.
@db You do realize we have a brand new company running things at Gulf Power now? They actually gave us a rate decrease when they took over. Yes you will absolutely see rate increases because every year it usually costs more to produce power not less ( unless there is a new technology that either cuts the cost of equipment/manpower then you might get a decrease) that’s how inflation works.
Lastly but not least don’t you guys think that all those utility workers that went over there and fixed the damage and restored power deserve to be paid? You expect them to work disaster recovery for free? They put their lives at risk everyday doing their normal job well disaster recovery is a not more demanding.
@Matt, Jackie, & db: AMEN! ALL of your comments are exactly right!
something is fishy. They are probably thinking of how they can raise it a little more, since they got it passed so easy.
Another crooked scam from the monopolized power company.
If walmart, home depot or lowes lost a store during the storm,
do you think they would send out a bill to their customers to
rebuild their store?
NO, they would not. They would absorb the cost and rebuild.
Why can’t the stock holders at gulf power take a loss. We all
take a loss/gain with our stocks (401k) when the market goes
on a rollercoaster ride.
FEMA kicked in did it not? So why do the customers get hit harder?