TECO receives Florida PSC approval to reduce base rates for storm protection plan cost recovery

Under a plan approved by the Florida Public Service Commission this week, the Tampa Electric Company (TECO) will be able to streamline its storm protection plan cost recovery and reduce base rates for costs that TECO will propose.

Currently, the storm protection plan’s operation and maintenance expenses are recovered through base rates. However, TECO wants to shift recovery of those costs to the plan’s cost recovery clause, amounting to a $15 million base rate reduction. This will keep operation and maintenance expenses — items like planned distribution vegetation management, right of way maintenance, infrastructure inspections and more — neutral for TECO’s more than 750,000 customers, leaving their bills unaffected.

TECO says it will help with transparency, though.

“When parties can agree to settle or simplify issues, it usually means less litigation and decreased costs. TECO’s Agreement does just that,” FPSC Chairman Gary Clark said. “It is always in the public interest when parties can negotiate outcomes that benefit everyone involved.”

Exactly what costs will be recovered will be reviewed by the Commission later this year. The base rate reduction and established charge will go into effect January 2021. TECO, the Office of Public Counsel, the Florida Industrial Power Users Group, the Florida Retail Federation, the Federal Executive Agencies, and the West Central Florida Hospital Utility Alliance all were signatories to the agreement.

Other matters addressed in the decision included the solving of a potential issue for how to calculate the threshold for cost recovery under TECO’s fourth solar base rate adjustment.