LAKELAND ELECTRIC HAS ONE OF THE LOWEST RESIDENTIAL RATES IN FLORIDA

Lakeland Electric is ranked second out of all providers

LAKELAND, FL (June 4, 2009) – The April figures have been published with the Florida Municipal Electric Association and to date Lakeland Electric now has one of the lowest residential power rates in Florida.  In fact, Lakeland Electric leads the way for municipal owned utilities with the lowest rate for a municipal owned utility in Florida and follows only Florida Power & Light out of all the electric providers in the state.  Lakeland Electric’s residential rate for 1,000 kWh is $115.39 which is well below Florida’s municipal average of $135.51/1,000 kWh and it is below the state’s average of investor owned utilities at $125.28/1,000 kWh.

Below is a breakdown that compares the rates of similar sized municipal operated electric utilities, neighboring investor owned electric utilities and other utilities operating in Polk County.

Residential Rates for 1,000 kWh

Utility                                                   Base Rate            Fuel Charge        Total

Florida Power & Light                     $51.89                   $54.92                   $106.81

Lakeland Electric                               $58.49                   $56.90                   $115.39

JEA (Jacksonville)                             $60.97                   $55.14                   $116.11

Progress Energy                               $63.72                   $56.00                   $119.72

OUC (Orlando)                                  $77.25                   $42.07                   $119.82

Tampa Electric                                   $51.92                   $64.16                   $125.23

GRU (Gainesville)                            $71.60                   $61.00                   $132.60

Tallahassee                                         $64.80                   $76.05                   $140.85                

Bartow                                                 $68.52                   $72.96                   $141.48

Fort Meade                                        $90.86                   $62.00                   $152.86

Jim Stanfield, General Manger for Lakeland Electric said, “We have completed a number of efficiency measures and cost controls that are allowing us to give our customers some very competitive rates.”  He added, “We are also experiencing a time period where natural gas prices have dropped considerably over the past several months and this results in lower fuel costs that directly benefit our customers.”

Lakeland Electric bills are broken out for customer convenience to show the base charge and the fuel charge.  The fuel charge on a utility bill is exactly that, the actual costs for fuel used to generate the amount of electricity used within a residence or business.  Most utilities subscribe to the same billing practice and break out the base rate and the fuel charge for their customers. There is no mark-up in fuel.  In fact, fuel is a straight pass-through to customers.  Lakeland Electric makes no profit in fuel. 

Lakeland Electric is Florida’s third-largest public power utility.  Lakeland Electric provides electricity to more than 120,000 residential and commercial customers. Power is generated at Lakeland Electric’s two main power plants, the 941-megawatt McIntosh Power Plant and the 176-megawatt Larsen Power Plant. The utility also operates a group of energy-efficient generating units capable of providing up to 50-megawatts of additional electricity when other units are out of service or during periods when demand for electricity is highest.

For more information and a complete breakdown of how all utilities in Florida rank, visit www.publicpower.com and click on the resources button or go to the link directly at

http://www.publicpower.com/electricrates.shtml.