Handing Gov. Charlie Crist a win, state utility regulators voted Tuesday to delay decisions on large rate increases sought by Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light.

The Public Service Commission will now decide FPL's proposed $1.25 billion base rate increase on Jan. 13, and it will vote on Progress Energy's $500 million base rate increase proposal on Jan. 11.

Crist requested the delay after he decided not to reappoint two of the five public service commissioners in the midst of the rate cases. Crist said he needed to ``clean house'' at the PSC, where commissioners and staff have been under fire for coziness with utilities, particularly FPL.

The delay will give the new commissioners, David Klement and Benjamin ``Steve'' Stevens, more of an opportunity to review the cases.

READY TO WORK

Klement has already begun serving on the PSC, filling in for Katrina McMurrian, who stepped down early after Crist chose not to reappoint her. Stevens will be sworn into office the first week of January, though he can begin reviewing the volumes of testimony and evidence in the cases now.

``By my calculations,'' Klement said. ``in both cases, that would amount to 9,699 typed pages and 829 pages of exhibits along with viewing approximately 23 days' worth of videos at the hearings. Granted that's a lot of reading and viewing. Can we do it?''

Klement said he could. He noted that he grew up on a dairy farm, where he worked seven days a week. Later, as a reporter, he said he learned to ``absorb huge amounts of data on any given subject by the end of the day.''

FPL and Progress had opposed the delays. FPL spokesman Mayco Villafana said the company could live with the decision and just wanted a fair hearing on the merits of their cases. Cherie Jacobs, a Progress Energy spokeswoman, said the company is ``disappointed.''

Progress was expecting a vote on its rates Nov. 19. FPL expected a vote Dec. 21. Both planned the increases -- about 30 percent -- to begin Jan. 1.

Progress can temporarily increase rates by about $8 for the average residential customer, starting in January. If the commission ultimately votes to lower rates, Progress would have to refund the extra money it collected.

NERVOUS INVESTORS

Unlike Progress, FPL can not approve a temporary rate increase due to an agreement with the Public Service Commission in a previous rate case.

Both companies said they need higher rates in order to provide some ``certainty'' for planning and budgeting. FPL's John Butler noted that investors in the privately run utility are ``a little bit unnerved by the delays.''

Commission Chairman Matt Carter stopped him. Carter noted that the federal government has pumped billions of dollars into the financial system to fix the economy but taxpayers have nearly nothing in return.

``My heart's not really bleeding for Wall Street right now. They've got a lot of work to do on their part,'' Carter said. ``When Wall Street comes in crying crocodile tears please understand Wall Street needs to be understanding about Main Street.''

Butler's response: ``FPL's concern isn't about the investment community. It's over what the investment community can do to FPL . . . the decisions affect our company and our ability to raise capital, and our ability to manage our business as we need to.''

FPL also notes that even if its base-rate increase is approved, the average customer's bill will be lower next year due to lower fuel prices.

BOTTOM LINE

FPL on Tuesday reported a drop in its stock price. During testimony last month, an FPL-hired analyst testified that Crist's involvement was damaging the company's bottom line.

Crist had called on the PSC to reject the rate increases and also decided not to reappoint Carter and McMurrian. Crist, running for U.S. Senate, has received campaign contributions from FPL. When he last ran for election in 2006, he made a campaign issue of fighting a rate increase sought by phone companies.

Before the commission acted on his request for a delay, Crist reiterated his call Tuesday morning.

``I think it would be beneficial so that we can have two new voices on that panel with a different perspective,'' Crist said. ``They may surprise us. They may do the right thing.''

Marc Caputo can be reached at mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com

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