Let’s talk appliances today.

The Choice: Appliances that use natural gas vs. appliances that use electricity.

Not everyone in South Florida is fortunate enough to have this choice like many in the public do in the City of Lake Worth and in many areas west of this City. For example, in Hurricane Season, it’s a very practical choice for many of the public: Go all electric for appliances or make the choice to switch some over to natural gas? Learn much more about this topic below.

But first . . . this is very important.

Information from Florida Public Utilities (FPU):

ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Call 811 Before You Dig!

No matter how small the digging project, you MUST call 811 before you dig to avoid hitting underground utility lines — which are shallower than you may think.

• Don’t risk losing your utility services, injury or worse.
• Before you pick up a shovel, pick up a phone and call 811.
• FPU will come and mark our lines within a few business days — at no charge to you.

Now back to natural gas vs. electric. . . 


For the City of Lake Worth’s “Utilities Service Areas” click on this link for GIS Mapping tools and scroll down the list.

Just as Lake Worth Water Utilities (LWWU) services a large and growing area west of the City so does LWEU. For example, a large area of Lake Osborne Estates in suburban Lake Worth uses LWWU and in the future many of those areas will be annexed. To learn more about that click on this link.


Now to natural gas, electricity and appliances. . .

There are so many scenarios to consider. For example, those who choose to hunker in place during major storms a natural gas stove might make sense to boil water if a “boil water notice” is issued. For outside grills there may be a run on propane tanks prior to a storm but with natural gas that is not an issue.

And for a connoisseur of Gallinas de Palo (Chicken of the Tree) — and the fact that most professional chefs prefer natural gas — that next iguana you bang over the head may be the best one ever cooked with natural gas instead of propane. Bon Appétit!

And switching from appliances that use electricity to those that use natural gas, for most of the public,
is a choice now.

LWEU rates are competitive with FP&L. But that wasn’t always the case. There was a time when switching to natural gas wasn’t a choice at all for many people. That is if they were fortunate enough to have gas lines from FPU available in their neighborhood or community to begin with (more information from FPU is at the end of this blog post).

Briefly, ‘back in the day’ when the LWEU rates were sky high prior to 2014 some electeds continued to hint they wanted the City’s already too-high electric rates to go even higher. That set off a panic in this City for both residents and business community as well because as other neighboring cities and towns were recovering from the Great Recession (2007–2009) this City continued to lag further and further behind.

The public who resided in areas with natural gas service lines, who were able to afford the initial investment, were switching over or “hooking up” new or pre-owned appliances to natural gas provided by FPU, e.g., emergency generators for electricity, stoves, cloth dryers, water heaters, pool heaters, gas fireplaces and things like outside lanterns as well.

Why did so many people switch over to natural gas? Primarily due to those terrible hurricanes back in 2004–2005: Frances, Jeanne and Wilma. Let’s take a little stroll down memory lane.

Newspaper clippings, Lake Worth Herald,
December 2005:

Click on clippings to enlarge:

For more about the Lake Worth Electric Utility, those terrible years from 2004–2011 click on this link.

Anyway. Enough of the history. Interested in finding out more about natural gas from FPU?

Call 888-765-4601 to contact Florida Public Utilities
or use this link and “Ask4Gas”.

For “Natural Gas FAQs” use this link.

Did you know:

• Natural gas is cheap, clean, affordable, and plentiful.
• Natural gas is extremely safe. And always remember to “Call 811 Before You Dig!”.
• Nine out of 10 professional chefs prefer cooking with natural gas.
• Natural gas is the “Green” choice.

In the video below, an expert from FPU explains the benefits of switching over to a natural gas range/oven:

And Thank You for visiting today and hope you found this information helpful.