Fort Myers residents worry as FPL plans to hike minimum electricity charge

Florida Power & Light (FPL) customers in Fort Myers are bracing for an increase in their utility bills.

FPL announced plans to raise the minimum charge on electricity bills from $25 to $30, which they describe as necessary to ensure reliable electricity and low costs.

Connie Ott, a Fort Myers resident for 15 years, expressed concern over the rising costs.

“I’ve noticed it creeping up every now and then,” said Ott.

As a senior citizen on a fixed income, Ott finds the increase challenging.

“As a senior citizen, my Social Security doesn’t increase in leaps and bounds, as does everyone else’s, and it hurts when you have to keep putting out more and more,” said Ott.

FPL spokesperson Andrew Sutton explained that the increase is targeted at a small portion of customers.

“The minimum base bill is really just reserved for low to no use customers… It’s less than 10% of customers, so really a fraction of our 6 million customer accounts,” said Sutton.

However, the AARP argues that this increase discourages energy conservation.

“We’ve got a lot of our northern neighbors that come down here for our lovely winters, and they don’t use the air conditioning as much during the summer, and they shouldn’t be penalized for that by a minimum increase on their monthly bill,” said Zayne Smith, senior director of advocacy for AARP.

FPL also proposed a usage-based price increase plan for 2026 to 2029. Sutton emphasized FPL’s commitment to maintaining lower-than-average national electricity bills while serving a growing state.

“We have proposed a plan that will allow us to keep making smart investments to reliably serve a growing state, while keeping bills well below the national average, as they have been for more than a decade,” said Sutton.

Smith from AARP believes there are ways to mitigate the proposed increases.

“So there are ways to chip away at the proposed increase while also allowing FPL to do what is necessary to provide the reliable service,” said Smith.

A meeting will take place at 9 a.m. next Wednesday at the Lee County Civic Center, where both FPL and AARP encourage public attendance to voice opinions on the proposed changes.