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Progress Energy Florida Says It's Losing Customers

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By RUSSELL RAY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 31, 2008

TAMPA - After years of steady growth, Progress Energy Florida said today it is beginning to lose customers.

The St. Petersburg-based electric utility, Central Florida's largest power provider, said it had 2,000 fewer customers in the third quarter compared with the same quarter of 2007.

Executives attributed the decline to a weak economy and a surge in housing foreclosures and vacant homes.

The decline was disclosed in the parent company's third-quarter report, which was released today. The company owns and operates electric utilities in Florida and the Carolinas. In the Carolinas, the company had 23,000 more customers compared with the third quarter of 2007.

Raleigh, N.C.-based Progress Energy, the parent company, reported flat earnings for the quarter and lowered its earnings expectations for the year to between $2.95 and $3.05 a share. The company's original forecast ranged between $2.95 and $3.15 a share.

Earnings totaled $306 million, or $1.17 a share, below analysts' expectation of $1.23 a share.

Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870 or rray@tampatrib.com.

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