Florida Public Service Commission

Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy Florida and Tampa Electric Co. filed the proposals in order to add underground power lines and reduce outage threats from trees and other vegetation.

Can Florida get all of its electricity from renewable sources by the year 2050?

Sen. Jennifer Bradley of Fleming Island sponsored the bill, which she said provides more fairness than making all utility customers pay for solar users.

The 10-digit dialing begins on Jan. 22, and a new 656 area code goes into effect in February with the 813 area code running out of numbers.

The proposal, if approved by the Florida Public Service Commission, would lead to Duke residential customers to pay $6.62 a month more for 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity starting in March.

State regulators next week will hold a workshop to begin considering a proposal to create an additional area code in Palm Beach County because the 561 area code is in “jeopardy” of running out of numbers.

It's an effort to boost solar energy and continue shifting away from using coal to fuel power plants.

The two utilities, which have a combined total of about 2.7 million customers, blamed prices of natural gas that fuels power plants.

Duke disagreed with the proposal, which would split it into three companies — one operating in Florida, one in the Carolinas and one in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

Duke Energy said in January that average residential customers would see bill increases of 3% to 4% in 2022.

If approved, Duke Energy Florida residential customers would see bill increases of 3 to 4% in 2022, and annual increases of 1 to 2% in 2023 and 2024.

It stems from issues from Duke's predecessor that resulted in a 2017 outage.