FPL To Help Customers Pay Electric Bills

From the Miami Times:

(From Staff Reports)

Sep 16, 2020

Florida Power & Light is offering to help customers who are behind on their electric bills, as the company prepares to begin disconnections that have been put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic.

FPL said it will provide bill credits of up to $200 to some residential and small-business customers. To qualify, customers would have to pay outstanding balance amounts minus the bill credits. For example, a customer who owed $600 would have to pay $400, with a $200 bill credit making up the remainder, according to FPL.

The utility plans to write off the credit amounts as bad debt. Separately, FPL plans to speed up refunds of customer deposits. The moves come as FPL plans to begin disconnecting some customers in October. It will start issuing final notices to customers this month and said it is extending the period for which customers may arrange payments of past-due amounts. FPL is encouraging people behind on their electric bill to call and discuss their circumstances to avoid being disconnected.

The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.