TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Power & Light Co. has cut its proposed rate increase by reducing the costs it wants to pass on to customers for executive bonuses and pay raises as well as corporate aircraft.

FPL spokeswoman Jackie Anderson said Thursday the utility agreed to split those expenses between customers and shareholders because it didn't want those relatively small items to be a distraction.

The Public Service Commission had questioned those expenses during hearings on the rate request this week.

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By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer - Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:47PM EDT

NEW YORK - A small Miami-based company said the U.S. government has given it permission to lay the first optical communications fiber from the U.S. to Cuba. That could drastically cut the cost of calling the island nation and make the Internet more accessible to Cubans.

FPL customers could see a 6.5 percent drop in their monthly electric bills starting next year – even if regulators approve its request to increase base rates by $1.3 billion, FPL announced Thursday.

FPL submitted new fuel estimates to the Public Service Commission days before the agency holds meetings to weigh the proposed base rate increase.

Officials from FPL, the state’s largest utility with 4.5 million customers, say they’re estimating monthly bills will drop from $107.04 now – and $109.32 in December – to $100 in January for residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours, less than the average FPL customer uses. That’s $4 less than FPL previously estimated.