FPL says it won’t cut off electricity for overdue bills during coronavirus crisis

Florida Power and Light said this week it will suspend service cut-offs over overdue bills for at least two weeks as the state reels from sizable chunks of its economy shutting down during the coronavirus epidemic.

“We know this is a difficult and unsettling time for the residents of Miami-Dade County,” Armando Fernandez, head of external affairs in Miami-Dade, said in an email Monday to County Commissioner Eileen Higgins. “FPL has a long history of working with our customers during difficult times and we will continue to do so. FPL will be suspending disconnections at least through the end of March.”

Higgins and other elected leaders, including Florida State Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, had been pressing state regulators and the for-profit utility to join other providers in halting service cut-offs during the pandemic crisis. While FPL didn’t announce its new policy, an executive confirmed it Monday afternoon on Twitter in a reply to another state lawmaker, Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando.

“FPL is not disconnecting customers during this difficult situation with #coronavirus,” wrote David Reuter, spokesman for FPL and its parent, NextEra. “We have been and continue to work with all customers who are experiencing difficulty, incl. suspending disconnections.”

The news on FPL joining other utilities in suspending electricity cut-offs during the COVID-19 pandemic follows Miami-Dade County’s government last week suspending evictions and halting the cut-off of water service for unpaid bills.

“A policy like this makes sense,” Rodriguez said. “We’re going to have a lot of everyday people who are going to be having trouble paying the bills.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2020 at 6:27 PM.