The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) will hold a customer service hearing on Friday, July 17, in Inverness on Progress Energy’s rate hike request.

The public hearing, which will be held at the county auditorium, is one of a series being held around the state on the rate case.

There are two parts to the proposed increase: the first is an interim increase that was already approved in May for the second half of this year. It added $4.52 to the bill for the average 1,000 residential kilowatt hours. The other part, which would begin in January, if granted as requested, would add another $9.31.

The PSC, based in Tallahassee, oversees rate increases for the utility’s 1.6 million customers in the region, and it will be considering the request to increase the company’s base rate by almost
$500 million to cover investments to meet customer demands and employ cleaner technologies.

The company plans two nuclear reactors in southwest Levy County in the next decade or so, and it is also upgrading transmission and distribution systems to increase reliability for customers, as well as meet federal mandates, and harden the system against storm damage.

Local governments, citizens and businesses can present their comments on rate cases, but the decision rests with the PSC members, who are appointed by the governor. Former state senator and Dunnellon resident Nancy Argenziano is currently serving a term on the PSC.

Progress Energy’s current base rate agreement will expire at the end of the year. The company said the first part of the rate case, the $76 million that was temporarily granted in May, was to recover the company’s investment to increase the efficiency and change the fuel source at its Bartow plant from oil to clean-burning natural gas. That portion of the rate increase request is being applied starting this month and increases a residential bill based on 1,000 kilowatt per about 4 percent.

The PSC is expected to decide on the other larger portion of the increase in the rate case by October. The total increase would then be $13.83 for 1,000 residential kilowatt hours, if the PSC granted the interim and the proposed increase for 2010.

Citrus taxpayers, however, will be getting something back for some of the company’s investment in improvements. As the county’s largest taxpayer and contributing 18 percent of the tax local base, Progress Energy will be paying as much as $8 million more a year in taxes when the current $1.3 billion state-of-the-art air emission control project now under construction at its Crystal River Units 4 and 5 is completed. The equipment will is designed to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions by 90 percent and mercury emissions by 80 percent.

The hearing begins at 9 a.m. The county auditorium is located on U.S. 41, just south of Inverness, adjacent the Inverness Airport.