Progress Energy customers are about to take it in the shorts again.
Today the Florida Public Service Commission granted the energy company's request to be able to hit ratepayers up for $140 million, money that Progress would use to purchase energy while its broken Crystal River nuclear plant sits offline.
The average extra costs for a Progress customer are expect to rise about 3 percent to $123.19 for 1,000 kilowatt hours of usage, beginning Jan. 1.
One of the Bay area's strongest consumer advocates in Tallahassee, New Port Richey state Senator Mike Fasano, blasted the PSC for granting such an increase.
"It is an outrage that the Public Service Commission has granted this increase," Senator Fasano said in written statement. "Due to Progress Energy’s poor handling of the damaged plant, and its questionable decisions regarding how to repair it, the customers are being forced to bear the burden of paying for its alternative fuel needs
This article appears in Nov 24-30, 2011.