A Senate committee revived the stalled debate over renewable energy in Florida on Monday and moved forward with a bill to give $16 million a year in tax incentives to businesses and homeowners, beginning next year.

The measure, being pushed Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, was introduced by the Senate Communications, Energy and Utilities Committee on Monday and will be voted on next week. It was described by energy advocates as a small step towards encouraging a market for renewable energy in Florida and weaning the state off its dependence on natural gas.

The bill, SB 7202, would allow for large companies, such as large as Walmart and Publix, as well as individual homeowners, to get sales tax breaks and tax credits if they invest in renewable energy machines, products and technology.

View the rest of the Miami Herald article here.

Officials with Florida Power and Light and the city of South Daytona agreed Friday that the city will purchase all of FPL’s assets and lease back the equipment to FPL while the deal giving city ownership of the equipment is being finalized, according to City Manager Joe Yarbrough.

At FPL’s demand, the city agreed to exercise its line of credit and acquire FPL’s assets now for $15.5 million, Yarbrough wrote Friday in an email to City Council members. In turn, FPL agreed to negotiate a reasonable, monthly lease of the city’s assets and release all customer account information so the city can begin programming software once their assets are acquired.

View the rest of the Daytona Beach News Journal article here.

For the full-year 2011, NextEra Energy reported net income on a GAAP basis of $1.92 billion, or $4.59 per share, compared with $1.96 billion, or $4.74 per share, in 2010. On an adjusted basis, NextEra Energy’s 2011 earnings were $1.84 billion, or $4.39 per share, for the full year, compared with $1.78 billion, or $4.30 per share, in 2010.

“NextEra Energy delivered strong performance in the fourth quarter and overall for 2011. At Florida Power & Light, earnings growth was driven by investments in the business, including new efficient power generation, that are helping to provide our customers with the lowest bills in the state and reliability that is among the best in the country. At NextEra Energy Resources, we signed nearly 2,200 megawatts of long-term wind and solar contracts in 2011, our most ever in a single year,” said NextEra Energy Chairman and CEO Lew Hay.

View the NextEra press release here.

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama pushed drilling for gas in shale rock and support for cleaner energy sources to boost the economy in his final State of the Union address before facing U.S. voters in November.

Hydraulic fracturing, the process of injecting water, sand and chemicals underground to free gas trapped in rock, could create more than 600,000 jobs by the end of the decade, Obama said yesterday. The process, called fracking, is among a list of energy policies Obama said would fuel economic growth.

“We have a supply of natural gas that can last America nearly 100 years, and my administration will take every possible action to safely develop this energy,” Obama said.

Obama reiterated support for conservation and cleaner sources of power and pledged more oil drilling as part of an ‘all-out, all-of-the-above’’ policy “that’s cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs.” He said domestic energy production is at an eight-year high and imports of foreign oil were declining, prompting criticism from Republicans.

View the rest of the Bloomberg Businessweek article here.

Earnings for the quarter and the full year were positively influenced by regulatory actions — primarily at subsidiary Georgia Power — that became effective in 2011, as well as operating results at Southern Power, Southern Company’s competitive generation subsidiary. Earnings were negatively affected by weather that was closer to normal in 2011 than it had been in 2010.

“In a year filled with challenges, our employees continued to deliver results on behalf of the customers and communities we serve,” said Thomas A. Fanning, Southern Company chairman, president and chief executive officer. “They are helping to fulfill Southern Company’s $20 billion commitment to build the energy future of the Southeast, a process that is expected to grow more than 250,000 jobs, according to analysis by the University of West Georgia.”

For more information, visit www.southerncompany.com.

Progress Energy’s top brass spelled out for investment analysts Monday how a proposed refund to customers would help smooth out a potentially tumultuous year.

The North Carolina-based utility, investor-owned and the second-largest in Florida, has agreed to return $288 million to its Florida customers over four years. Progress collected that amount in monthly bills to cover the cost of electricity that was more expensive than what the shut-down nuclear-power plant near Crystal River had provided.

View the rest of the Orlando Sentinel article here.

The delayed merger of Duke Energy and Progress Energy could be completed in May or June if the companies’ new plan can satisfy regulatory concern over the merged utility’s market power in North Carolina, Progress Chief Executive Bill Johnson said on Monday.

Duke and Progress had hoped to wrap up the $13.7 billion merger in 2011, but in December, federal regulators rejected a proposal in which the companies offered to sell power for eight years under a “virtual divestiture” plan in the Carolinas.

Johnson said the companies plan to file a new mitigation plan at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the next couple of weeks, but offered no details on a call with analysts.

View the rest of the Reuters article here.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy called the fee a nuclear power “tax” in a news release Monday.

The Florida Supreme Court appeal challenges decisions by the Public Service Commission to set 2012 nuclear cost recovery rates for Florida Power Co. and Progress Energy Florida.

View the rest of the Miami Herald news brief here.

The deal with the state’s Office of Public Counsel and other consumer advocates was announced Friday. It also provides for a $150 million annual base rate increase in 2013 if the Public Service Commission approves the agreement.

The net effect of the rate increase, refund and other provisions of the settlement would be to add $4.93 to the current average monthly residential bill, or 4 percent.

That figure, though, is subject to change if the commission approves modifications to fuel adjustment and other rates not covered by the settlement during the coming year.

“The agreement helps ensure the continued safe, reliable and environmentally sound operation of the electric system that serves more than 1.6 million Florida families and businesses,” said company president and CEO Vincent Dolan.

View the rest of the article in the Miami Herald.

The adjustment is needed to pay for increases in the cost of doing business and to begin paying for a new, high-efficiency natural gas power plant after it enters service in June 2013. The plant will use considerably less fuel to generate electricity, which in turn lowers customers’ total bills. The company’s existing rate agreement, which effectively froze base rates for three years, expires at the end of 2012.

“FPL customers have the lowest bill in the state, reliability that is among the best in the nation and award-winning customer service. That is an exceptional value proposition. We know there is never a good time for an increase, and we are particularly mindful of the impact of these uncertain economic times on our customers and our state. We have worked hard to reduce costs and improve our efficiency, and we will continue to do so to keep bills low and reliability high. We look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate how we will put these new rates to work for our customers,” said FPL CEO Armando J. Olivera.

View the NextEra Energy press release here.