FPL mistakenly bills customer nearly $13K during Ian outage

The struggles for electricity and getting power restored have been very real for many people.

One family didn’t have power for almost three weeks but got a bill for thousands.

For 20 days, Hurricane Ian kept the lights off at Suzette Shafer’s south Fort Myers condo.

She got it back a couple of weeks after Florida Power and Light replaced a faulty meter.

“And then on Friday, I got this bill and it was for $12,722 and seven cents,” Shafer said.

An FPL bill for nearly $13,000 for a 1,000-square-foot condo due on Nov. 17.

Her bill shows past energy usage, barely green dashes and then October’s sky high bar.

“The highest it’s ever been has been like 212,” Shafer said. “It was a shock, especially going through all of this and working so hard to clean up our place and everything else and then to be frustrated with this? It was like, well what else can happen.”

So Shafer tried calling FPL to get it fixed.

“That has to be a mistake,” she said.

But she didn’t get anywhere.

So WINK News sent FPL an email asking why Shafer’s bill was so high.

“They did change the meter. I don’t think the meter costs $12,000 but that wouldn’t be for me to pay so I’m hoping to get this resolved. I’m hoping someone from Florida Power and Light will contact me and tell me that it’s a mistake,” Shafer said.

About two hours after WINK News sent an email, Shafer said FPL called her saying a reporter sent an email regarding her bill and her account would be fixed in three to four business days.

A representative told WINK News it was a fluke when the new meter was installed.

And Shafer will not have to pay that super-charged bill.

Shafer told WINK News her bill dropped to $53.33.