TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Duke Energy will be able to use hundreds of millions of dollars from tax reform to replenish reserves used for repairs following Hurricane Irma.
- Duke Energy got $650 million from federal tax reform
- Consumer advocates: Savings should be passed onto customers
- Duke Energy will replenish its Storm Recovery Reserve Fund
The Florida Public Service Commission signed off on a plan to use $650 million the company got from the 2017 federal tax reform package to pay back the reserve account used to pay for repairing downed power lines, busted transformers and other damage to the power grid caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Much of the $650 million will effectively be spent to cover the $484 million worth of expenses.
Consumer advocates argued that Duke should have dipped into profits to cover that cost and pass the savings onto customers in the form of lower rates. Money to replenish the storm reserves, they say, should come from the profits enjoyed by Duke's shareholders.
But in the end the PSC signed off on the plan.
PSC regulators don't share that view and are echoing statements by Duke officials that rates are still on track to go down, albeit at a much smaller clip than customers might have seen had the tax savings been refunded.
"The agreement includes storm restoration process improvements that we believe will provide benefits to our customers during restoration efforts and will also improve contracting practices and recordkeeping and therefore streamline this commission's review of storm restoration efforts and costs," Duke's Matt Bernier testified during Tuesday's proceedings.
Duke Energy had originally planned to tack on a recovery fee for customers after Irma, something many utility companies do after a storm. But the company decided against it after calculating the money it would get from the tax cuts.