FPL asks regulators for 2027 charges it says would put typical bill at $141.87, including Isaias surcharge

Florida Power & Light asked the Florida Public Service Commission on Oct. 30 to approve updated 2027 fuel charges that the company estimates would set the typical residential bill for 1,000 kilowatt-hours at $141.87 beginning Jan. 1, 2027. FPL says that estimate includes a separate interim storm charge of $3.48 a month, which it requested the same day in a new petition to recover costs from Hurricane Isaias.¹² Both requests are pending before the commission.

The fuel petition, filed in Docket No. 20260001-EI, estimates the typical bill would be $142.34 starting Feb. 1, 2027, and $142.82 starting Aug. 1, 2027, the dates tied to solar-related base rate adjustments FPL has proposed. FPL said natural gas prices had fallen since its original Sept. 3 projection, and put its updated projected 2027 jurisdictional fuel costs and net power transactions at $3.150 billion, $210.741 million less than first projected.¹

A bill comparison schedule filed with the testimony of FPL witness Richard L. Hume lists the current 2026 typical bill as $136.64 in FPL’s main service area and $141.36 in Northwest Florida, against a proposed $141.87 for both in January 2027. In that schedule, the base portion of that bill goes from $89.17 to $95.10 and the fuel portion from $28.93 to $23.75.³ FPL witness Edward J. Anderson testified that the January figures reflect base rate changes approved in FPL’s 2025 rate case docket, No. 20250011-EI.⁴

In a news release, FPL said it had projected a 2027 typical bill of $143.05 in filings a year earlier.⁵

The Isaias charge

The storm petition, docketed Oct. 30 as No. 20260159-EI, asks the commission to let FPL collect $352.9 million on an interim basis from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2027, subject to a later true-up. FPL estimates, as of Oct. 23, total Isaias restoration costs at about $553.1 million and retail incremental storm costs at about $480.3 million, which it says used up its estimated $207.0 million storm reserve and exceeded it by about $273.3 million. FPL says its $352.9 million request combines that $273.3 million, $75 million to partly rebuild the reserve and about $4.6 million in estimated interest.²

FPL says its 2025 settlement would let it seek enough to restore the reserve to $300 million, but that it chose $75 million to limit 2027 bill impacts. The proposed residential charge is 0.348 cents per kWh, or $3.48 on a 1,000-kWh bill, which FPL says is below a $5.00-per-1,000-kWh level the settlement sets for a 12-month recovery.²

The petition says Isaias came ashore near Destin on Oct. 9 as a high-end Category 2 storm and affected service to about 435,000 FPL customers in eight counties. FPL says final costs are not yet known and it will file a later petition for a final review.²

What comes next

A prehearing order issued Oct. 28 in the fuel docket says FPL’s issues will be heard at a final hearing on Dec. 1, 2026.⁶ The fuel petition mentions a $500,000 replacement fuel cost credit reached in a stipulation between FPL and the Office of Public Counsel, which represents utility customers, subject to commission approval.¹ CBS News Miami, with the News Service of Florida, reported that the 2025 settlement was expected to raise base rates by $945 million in 2026 and $705 million in 2027.⁷ NBC 6 reported that the changes would appear on January bills if approved.⁸

What the records do not show

• Whether the commission will approve the fuel charges or the Isaias charge, or change the amounts.
• SignalData did not open the earlier filing behind FPL’s $143.05 figure, which comes from FPL’s release.
• FPL’s final Isaias costs; the petition’s figures are estimates.
• The schedule for the Isaias docket, and how bills at other usage levels would change.