Florida Power & Light customers likely will face increased monthly bills in 2025 after the utility Tuesday requested approval to collect nearly $1.2 billion to cover costs of restoring power after hurricanes Debby , Helene and Milton and to replenish a storm reserve fund.
FPL wants to recover an estimated $1.179 billion over a 12-month period starting in January, with much of the cost stemming from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall Oct. 9 as a Category 3 storm in Sarasota County before crossing the state, according to a filing at the Florida Public Service Commission.
The filing said Milton affected electric service for 2 million FPL customers, and the utility used 20,000 workers from as far away as Canada to restore power.
The Public Service Commission would need to approve FPL recovering the money, but utilities have regularly received such approvals in the past. In addition, storm-cost recovery was contemplated in a broader 2021 rate agreement for FPL.
Storm costs are essentially a temporary add-on to customer bills. Utilities typically use as a benchmark residential customers who consume 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month — though actual electricity use varies widely.