electricity

Opponents of the proposed settlement want the Florida Public Service Commission to consider the counter proposal. Commission Chair Mike La Rosa on Sept. 12 denied the request.

The state Office of Public Counsel, which is designated by law to represent utility customers, and allied consumer groups urged the Florida Public Service Commission this week to reconsider a decision that dismissed the counter proposal.

Data centers are one of the biggest issues in the utility industry nationally, as power companies look for ways to meet the demands of data centers that play a key role in such things as artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

The developments late Friday afternoon added uncertainty to a closely watched case that has involved FPL seeking rate increases that would lead to customers paying billions of dollars in the coming years.

Florida Power & Light on Friday filed a proposal that would lead to higher electric bills for customers over the next four years, with the utility pointing to issues such as growth and a need to build more solar-energy facilities.

Officials say it could take up to two days to restore power. The private company that oversees electricity transmission and distribution says it appears the outage was caused by a failure in an underground power line.

Colombia’s government is rolling out new incentives to reduce electricity consumption in the South American nation, which has been hit by a drought that has diminished the capacity of local hydroelectric plants.

FPL filed a petition at the state Public Service Commission that would trim increases proposed to take effect in April. FPL’s filing came two days after Duke Energy Florida filed a similar petition based on natural-gas prices.

State regulators Tuesday approved utility costs that will translate to higher electric bills in January for homeowners and businesses — and the pain won’t end there.

It turns out that while solar systems can generate as much power as most homes consume on bright, sunny days, they cannot be relied upon to consistently produce the amounts that we need.

Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy Florida and Tampa Electric Co. estimated in regulatory filings Wednesday that they will spend nearly $3.4 billion more on power-plant fuel this year than had been expected. While it is too early to know exactly how that will affect customers, utilities generally are allowed to recoup their fuel costs.

Earlier this year, there had been warnings that supply during peak summer hours might not meet demand. But there have been no reports yet of widespread outages.