Duke Energy customers will get a break on their electric bills. A decision by the Public Service Commission will return $54 million the utility had charged consumers for a nuclear power project in Levy County.
Duke customers won’t be getting a check in the mail, but the decision does mean they’ll get to stop paying some costs for a Levy County nuclear plant early. The $54 million comes from equipment Duke never received. That led to a lawsuit between Duke and the company it hired to build the Levy plant. In the meantime, Commissioner Julie Brown says it doesn’t make sense for Duke not to give that money back to its customers.
“To me, I just don’t think it’s fair that costumers are being asked to pay for longer than is possibly necessary. It’s also not appropriate for customers to pay for equipment that was never provided,” Brown says.
The utility regulators also approved nuclear cost recovery rates for both Duke and Florida Power and Light for maintenance and upgrades on other nuclear projects.
