The Florida Public Service Commission signed off on a rate settlement between Progress Energy and a group of consumer advocates Wednesday.
Among its provisions, the settlement provides a refund for replacement power costs associated with the Crystal River 3 nuclear plant outage, according to a Progress release. From 2013 to 2017, it also freezes a fee that goes toward licensing two new reactors proposed for Levy County.
Crystal River has been offline since 2009. After cutting a hole in its containment building to replace the unit’s steam generators, crews found concrete delamination that Progress has since struggled to fix. The settlement would refund customers $288 million in costs for replacement power associated with the outage. Progress also will remove the reactor from its base rates starting next year as the company negotiates with its insurer and evaluates its options for the plant.
Base rates will increase in 2013 by $150 million. Including all adjustments, Progress estimated the average residential bill would increase 4 percent, or $4.93 per month.