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Your power bill might be going up...

Florida’s publicly-owned power utilities must harden their infrastructure to hold up during storms -- and you could get stuck with the bill.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida’s Public Service Commission has a big decision to make in the coming weeks which could have a significant impact on Floridians’ wallets.

With the passage of Senate Bill 796 earlier this year, Florida’s five publicly-owned power utilities (Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy, Tampa Electric Gulf Power and Florida Public Utilities Company) must come up with 10-year plans for protecting the state’s electrical grid against hurricanes. 

That protection, in many cases, will mean moving power lines underground – all paid for by customers.

The law, approved by legislators and signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in June, says the power companies must harden their infrastructure to hold up during storms. It also says those utilities will be allowed to charge customers for the cost of those projects, but exactly how those charges are assessed and how much those charges will be is up to the commission.

The state Public Service Commission meets on October 3rd to discuss the rules for implementing SB 796. The commission has until the end of October to propose those rules.

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