As Duke Energy and Westinghouse litigate costs related to an unbuilt nuclear plant in Florida, state regulators have ordered the utility to refund money collected from ratepayers for equipment that was never delivered.
The Florida Public Service Commission voted last week to reduce the bills of Duke customers by a total of $54 million. Bay News 9 reported that Duke will comply with that order by removing a $3.45 cost recovery charge from bills earlier than expected next year or possibly in 2016.
Before its merger with Duke, Progress Energy Florida had applied for a combined license to build two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at a site in Levy County in 2008. Duke announced the cancellation of that project last year, followed by a lawsuit this spring asserting that Westinghouse owed the utility $54 million for turbine generators and reactor vessel components that were not produced. Westinghouse then sued Duke for $512 million the company believed it was owed for engineering and design work.