Florida Power & Light Company announced a plan to refund its approximately 5.8 million customers nearly $400 million in savings resulting from the new federal tax law.
The savings are the result of a federal production tax credit (PTC) for the development of solar energy centers, which FPL continues to build across Florida as part of the nation’s largest solar expansion that today includes 50 operational sites.
FPL solar energy centers that began serving customers in 2022 are retroactively eligible for the PTCs. To quickly provide these savings to customers, FPL is planning a one-time, $25 million refund in the month of January 2023. Also starting next year and through 2025, the company plans to phase in nearly $360 million in additional federal tax savings for future planned solar projects.
“As we continue working to operate even more efficiently to drive costs out of our business, federal tax savings will begin to provide some relief to customers next year as high natural gas prices continue to put upward pressure on bills,” said FPL Chairman and CEO Eric Silagy.
FPL’s 2022-2025 rate agreement, which was approved last year by state regulators and signed by the state’s consumer advocate and other organizations, includes a provision that accounts for changes to federal tax law. This mechanism will facilitate the quick implementation of bill adjustments over the remainder of FPL’s rate agreement.
Despite support for the comprehensive rate agreement, which ensures FPL customers pay by far the lowest rates among utilities serving more than 75 percent of Floridians, some groups earlier this year appealed the Florida Public Service Commission’s final order to the Florida Supreme Court.
“These advocacy groups are now asking Florida’s highest court to tear up the very rate agreement that will soon quickly enable customers to begin saving hundreds of millions of dollars on their electric bills over the next three years, including a multi-million-dollar lump sum refund to start the new year,” Eric Silagy said.