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Progress Energy may have burned customers

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By RUSSELL RAY

rray@tampatrib.com

Published: April 11, 2009

TAMPA - Did Progress Energy Florida and its customers pay too much for coal supplies in 2006 and 2007?
State regulators will be searching for answers during a three-day public hearing that begins Monday as they examine the St. Petersburg-based utility's purchasing practices for two coal-fired units near Crystal River.

Florida's Office of Public Counsel and the state attorney general's office, which represent the state's ratepayers, contend the utility owes its customers a refund of $61 million. Both offices maintain that the utility could have purchased less expensive coal but failed to obtain a permit to burn it.
Progress Energy did not immediately return calls for comment.

By law, electric utilities cannot earn a profit from the purchase of fuel. Those costs are passed on to customers with no markup.
Progress Energy is Central Florida's largest power provider, serving 1.6 million customers in 35 counties.

Reporter Russell Ray can be reached at (813) 259-7870.

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