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Advocates Pan TECO Rate Plan

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By RUSSELL RAY

rray@tampatrib.com

Published: October 22, 2008

TAMPA - Retailers, consumer advocates and the retirement community gathered at a public hearing Tuesday to rail against a plan by Tampa Electric Co. to raise electric rates.

The rate increase, if approved, would add about $10 to a customer's monthly bill.

The $228 million-a-year rate increase would give TECO a 12 percent return on its investments, said J.R. Kelly of the Office of Public Counsel, which represents ratepayers.

"We do not believe that is reasonable given today's economic times," Kelly said at the hearing hosted by all five members of the Florida Public Service Commission.

The rate proposal is excessive and unjustified given the utility's operating costs, said Robert Scheffel Wright, an attorney for the Florida Retail Federation. "We believe that Tampa Electric needs to be more realistic and, frankly, more sensitive to the real-world economic realities that all of us face," Wright said.

Since 1992, the utility added 200,000 customers, invested $3.4 billion in new projects and has seen soaring costs.

"The cost of running households and businesses has increased and it's no different for Tampa Electric," said Dee Brown, TECO's vice president of regulatory affairs.

The PSC is expected to rule on the proposed rate increase early next year.

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