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Second half of Duke Energy's Citrus County natural gas plant comes online

 
Published Nov. 30, 2018

Duke Energy Florida brought the second half of its 1,640-megawatt natural gas facility online over the weekend. The Citrus County project, which cost $1.5 billion and began in March 2016, will increase customer bills by about $5 monthly over the next two months, the utility said in a release.

"The station will provide a smarter energy future for Floridians by generating cleaner, more efficient energy," said Jeff Swartz, Duke Energy's vice president of fossil and hydro operations in Florida, in a release.

The plant's first half, which came online Oct. 26, will show up on customers' monthly bills as an extra $3.69 per 1,000 kilowatt hours, while the second half will be $2.30 per 1,000 kilowatt hours in January 2019, according to spokesperson Ana Gibbs. Because of other offsets the utility was granted by state regulators, the second half's cost will be reduced to just under $1.

Contact Malena Carollo at mcarollo@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2249. Follow @malenacarollo.