Excellent.
I was hoping they would finally do this.
:(

Meanwhile when is FPL going to cut back the trees and bury lines like was promised after Hurricane Charlie?

Do what ? Raise the bill to cover feul cost or is it because you own FPL stocks.?

Just when I hear that the price of a gallon of milk is supposed to decrease... :(

I already do all of that stuff on the "ways to conserve" list, but dang -- have you ever actually tried to run your dishes through the typical GE Profile dishwasher without pre-rinsing them? Might as well not waste the water running the dishwasher at all -- they all come out dirty. I can only assume that GE dishwashers are crap.

No surprise here. Stock up on deodorant.
Which, by the way, will cost you more...

We are getting the shaft from all sides now- failed "energy policy", speculators and the overseas contries. Are you ready skeedaddy for the $4.50 gas coming to a station near you?

This monoply needs to raise prices in order to keep shareholders happy.

Imagine if the power utiliies were deregulated and the Floridian consumer could shop for the lowest rates

After the second increase, the rates will have raised closer to twenty per cent. The miracle of compounding interest. Do the math, change the headline.

FPL is a bunch of crooks!

16% is absurd!!!
8% is ridiculous. If you read newspapers from other parts of the country, you see electric companies asking for four to five percent increases. And most won't get that.
This is just another classic example of the bloated, fat cat public monopoly that we can do nothing about.
Go buy some KY and bend over, here it comes!

Solar

I went all green on the light bulbs, pool pump every other day for 6 hours, no heat dry on dishwasher, cloths washed in cold water, ceiling fans off when no one in the room, AC at 80 when home and 82 when not, i even have the energy device on call on my house and the bill went up from the past month. NOW A INCREASE, JUST GREAT!!

Where's the decrease from the hurricane fees they temporarily put on.
And the trees in my neighborhood haven't been done in years also. Guess i'll call them today and ask when

Thats great, because a 16% increase is a sure fire way to jumpstart the states economy.

With this being the "sunshine state" why aren't there more solar panels on buildings, homes, condos, etc.? Makes no sense to me.

The solar industry should get the same investment in dollars and tax breaks that the oil industry does. If only 10% of money spent in Iraq had gone to solar research and development we would be well on our way towards cheap solar power. Maybe then we SW Floridans could declare our energy independance from FPL !! It makes no sense for President Bush (US Bureau of Land Management) to place a moratorium on federal solar projects for two years while we are held hostage by the price of oil and the price of electricity. What a waste that we in Florida can't easily use all the sunshine we have to reduce our electric bills with solar.

This "Lifestyle Alert" brought to you via mother nature,(hurricanes in 04/05)and a failed national energy policy from our government.
Do you really think the White House is concerned with $4.00 a gallon gas?...their spending 12 billion a month in the middle east litterbox to import this "cheap" fuel and Americans have become spoiled.
$4.00 will be a bargain when we reach where this country's headed.

I agree with the solar idea. I also think wind generators.

But think about it.....how are they going to able to tax the sun???
That's why they drag their feet.

Solar and wind are great as supplemental energy systems, but neither one on their own can generate sufficient amounts of electricity to completely replace coal- or oil-fired generating plants.

Despite this being "The Sunshine State", Florida would still have trouble with solar energy because of the sheer size of the solar collector arrays that would be necessary to replace our current supply sources.

The same thing with wind. Florida doesn't have enough consistent winds to make wind generators practical or cost-effective. Most of the states that attempt to use wind-generated power to supplement their other sources are either very hilly or mountainous. (Florida is very flat, is case you hadn't noticed.)

And, you tax energy generated these ways the same you that you tax energy generated with coal or oil...with a meter, based upon usage. Because it would have to be generated on a large scale to be practical. Most homes use more energy than private homeowners can afford to generate on their own, that's why these systems (despite having been around for almost 30 years, in practical terms) are still largely supplemental in nature.

The best and most viable "alternative" energy source is still nuclear power.

Florida Power & Light does NOT have a monopoly on energy in Florida.

A significant portion of Lee County has their electricity supplied by Lee County Electric Co-Op (LCEC), which has generating plants in several locations throughout eastern Lee County.

Despite being known primarily for natural gas service, Tampa Electric Company (TECO) also supplies electric energy to all of Hillsborough County and significant portions of Polk, Pasco, and Pinellas Counties in the Tampa Bay area.

Monroe County (which is the Florida City area and The Keys) has their energy supplied by Keys Energy Service (KES), which is based in Key West. While they do have their own generating plant in Key West, most of the electricity that KES supplies they actually purchase from a nuclear power plant in New England and then re-sell to their customers. (Yes, that's legal, in case you're wondering. And, it happens more often than you think it does, even with FP&L.)

Because most of what you are paying for with KES is "transmission fees" from New England to The Keys, a "typical" monthly electric bill for a 2,000 square foot house in The Keys is between $475 and $525. (The 900 square foot house I rent for work in Big Pine - WITHOUT air conditioning - runs me about $350 per month.)

This isn't that bad an increase. Just like everything else, this is simply a reflection of fuel prices.

But your thinking public solar panels, I'm thinking private.
And there is enough wind for the generators.Actually, in some of the more windy states, they have to shut down the turbines because the wind is too strong.
I always enjoy the comments that alternative won't work because it can't supply 100% of the electricity needed.
It's that kind of tunnel vision that has us in this mess. With that kind of thinking it's amazing we ever moved out of caves. Why not try multiple methods. What exactly do we have to lose.

We don't have anything to lose. But, states already supplement the nation's energy supply with "alternative" methods using solar, wind, and nuclear. And, the combined total of this effort totals less than 10% of the entire energy consumption of the United States.

With more than 300,000,000 households in the U.S. using electrical power, it will take more than just "random" use of "personal" power-generating equipment to affect a significant reduction in the use of fossil-fuel-based power sources.

And, isn't the ultimate goal to divest ourselves of using fossil fules to generate energy altogether? That's what the envirocons are pushing for - 100% of the electricity needed in the U.S. to be generated by "alternative" sources. That's also tunnel vision, beacuse none of the "alternative" sources (except nuclear power) have yet to demonstrate the consistent, cost-effective, high-output capability necessary to make enough impact to warrant more permanent and more widespread changes to our power grid.

I don't know about you, but I don't have the kind of money necessary to generate enough power to completely disconnect my house from "The Grid". Or, for that matter, enough land. It would take almost two acres of solar panels or almost seven acres of wind generators to completely replace the energy that the average 2,000 square foot home consumes in a month. Can you afford to do that?

Gatorhater: "Most homes use more energy than private homeowners can afford to generate on their own, that's why these systems (despite having been around for almost 30 years, in practical terms) are still largely supplemental in nature. The best and most viable "alternative" energy source is still nuclear power."

The reason solar systems haven't become more efficient and more prevailent in the past 30 years has a lot more to do with lack of federal incentives and tax breaks for the industry and consumers alike (tax breaks like the oil and nuclear industries get). Given a chance with significant investment, solar and wind industries can do just as well if not better than nuclear or coal, and be safer and cleaner too. Lack of funding for 30 years due to oil and nuclear lobbyists is no reason not to invest in solar and wind now.

For those of you who have been here awhile......remember all the orange Asplundh trucks that used to be tree trimming along all the power lines years ago.......and they've seemed to have just disappeared.......I asked a buddy at FPL what happened, he said FPL is reimbursed from FEMA for any storm damage done by trees, so they cut all the tree trimming money from their budget, since FEMA pays for the damage. Our govt lets them get away with it.

So, if we (the U.S. collectively) start to significantly invest in developing "alternative" energy sources such as solar and wind, and, at the same time, open up drilling for oil in ANWR and the Gulf of Mexico (because, let's face it, we are NEVER going to get 100% away from fossil fuels), which products will be developed to their full potential and reach the market in a useable state first?

I'm all for exploring "alternative" energy sources. I'm not naive enough to think that we will be forever chained to JUST oil. But, most of the components that will need to be manufactured to fully develop solar and wind power are either polymer- or carbon-based (and polymers and carbon are both petroleum derivatives), and they will be manufactured in factories operated by electricity, coal, and oil (and all of those take petroleum to produce).

So, while we might find ways to be use less energy individually (or even as a society), the means by which we become more "energy efficient" will still require vast quantities of petroleum.

So, we find ourselves in a vicious circle: Truly viable alternative energy will be hard to develop and bring to market until it can receive the same tax breaks and incentives given to oil, coal, and nuclear power...BUT, the government will not offer those tax breaks and incentives to alternative energy until it is truly viable.

Thanks Gov. Crist. The few bucks we saved on your property tax "reform" will now be burned in additional energy costs while you and algore save the planet. Solar and wind aren't cheap or cost effective. Instead of 1000 megawatts of cheap energy in Desoto county we must now finance Don Quiotes windmills.

Interesting point gatorhater about the polymer and carbon based components. Will these components really require "vast" quantities of petroluem to produce? I don't understand why you single out the solar and wind industries. Doesn't the construction of a nuclear facility require alot of energy to produce its components? Isn't that true of anything manufactured? Even if it does require alot of petroleum inititally to produce the components, I would suspect that solar and wind would save energy over the life span of the components produced. And the goal here is not only to save oil, but also to reduce overall energy costs--which solar and wind would do. I realize these factors are inter-related, but it seems to me your arguement about "vast" quantities of oil may be over-stated.

Where I live we just got a 22% increase and its the 3rd one in the past year! Sooo we're up over 50% now! My electric bill with no AC runs $275.00 to $300.00 month. We use gas dryer, gas Stove and must have ceiling fans!!! wish we were only hit with 8% raise!!

Hey swamp4u2,
What happens if you call fpl and tell them there's trees in the neighborhood that are dangerously messing with the power lines?
I have one thats lifting the power lines to my house

I have to agree with swamp4u2. FPL no longer trims trees on a regular basis as preventative maintenance. The only time they will have the trees trimmed is after a storm or if there has been multiple power outages in an area caused by trees.

In my neighborhood we have had five count em' five power outages in the past 3 weeks. This past week FPL finally sent out Asplundh to trim the trees on the entire street. That took over four hours, mean while we had no power (for the safety of the tree trimmers) while they completed the task that should have been taken care of a long time ago as a routine item.

Now what I really would like know is why the power was out again this morning for over two hours. No explanation from our friends at Florida Flicker and Flash.