Duke Energy Florida takes action to reduce residential customer bills by nearly 21% in May during the COVID-19 pandemic

- Company fast-tracks fuel savings to customers

- Commercial and industrial customers will see a 20% to 45% reduction on May 2020 bills

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Apr 02, 2020, 14:51 ET

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy Florida today filed a plan to significantly reduce customers' bills for the May 2020 billing cycle, providing much-needed relief to customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To help residential and business customers now, the company is requesting approval from the Florida Public Service Commission to offer immediate assistance during this crisis by giving the annual fuel savings in a single bill.

Traditionally, these fuel savings would be refunded over the following year.

"We understand that during the COVID-19 pandemic many of our residential and business customers are facing financial challenges," said Catherine Stempien, Duke Energy Florida state president. "During these unprecedented times, we want to find creative solutions to provide relief and continue to work hard to deliver the best possible price for our customers."

If approved, a typical residential customer will see a decrease of nearly 21% on May's bill.

Commercial and industrial customers will see significant savings ranging from approximately 20% to 45%.

Individual electric bills vary greatly and depend on the amount of electricity used.

More Help for Customers

In March, Duke Energy announced it will not disconnect any customer's service for nonpayment, in order to give customers experiencing financial hardship extra time to make payments. The company will continue to read meters and send bills.

The company is also waiving late payment fees and fees for returned payments for its millions of electric and natural gas customers across its service territories beginning Saturday, March 21, until the national state of emergency is lifted. For residential customers, the company is also waiving fees for credit and debit card payments.

Customers should pay what they can to avoid building up a large balance that will be harder to pay off later.

Customers can also seek assistance through the Energy Neighbor Fund.

Additionally, customers with smart meters can log onto duke-energy.com or the Duke Energy app to closely monitor energy usage and make adjustments.

Customers can also use these 10 easy ways to make their home office more energy efficient.

For information on what Duke Energy is doing to assist customers and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit dukeenergyupdates.com.

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns a diverse generation mix of natural gas, coal and renewables, providing about 10,200 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 1.8 million customers in a 13,000-square-mile service area.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 30,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities, and 3,000 megawatts through its nonregulated Duke Energy Renewables unit.

More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Contact: Ana Gibbs
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SOURCE Duke Energy