Tampa Electric Bills to Go Up in April

State regulators Tuesday signed off on a plan by Tampa Electric Co. to increase customer bills in April because of higher-than-expected natural gas costs. With the approval by the Florida Public Service Commission, residential customers will see roughly 4 percent increases in their bills. Residential customers who use 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month --- a common benchmark in the utility industry --- will see their bills go from $99.53 to $103.58.

The increase stems from a process that involves utilities passing through power-plant fuel costs to customers. The Public Service Commission each fall approves fuel costs that will be charged during the coming year. But utilities can seek changes if the estimates are off by more than 10 percent.

Tampa Electric said higher-than-expected gas costs would lead to such an “under-recovery” of money in 2019 and, as a result, it sought the increase.

Article reposted with permission from The News Service of Florida.