JUNO BEACH, FL - Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has managed to save an estimated $440 million in fuel costs and avoid approximately 4.9 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2009.

Cumulatively, FPL's investments have saved customers almost $3 billion in fuel costs and avoided 24.5 million tons of CO2 emissions since 2002. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this is equivalent to removing 4.25 million cars from the road.

"While we can't control the cost of fuel, we can focus on making our plants as efficient as possible to help control the amount of fuel we use to produce power," said Armando Olivera, FPL president and CEO.

In the past year, two new highly efficient, natural gas-fired, combined-cycle units entered service at FPL's West County Energy Center, which is among the cleanest, most efficient power plants of its kind in the nation. These units began contributing immediately to FPL's record-setting efficiency improvements, utilizing state-of-the art technology to produce more electricity with less fuel, thereby decreasing both carbon emissions and customers' bills. In addition to fossil fuel efficiency savings, emissions-free nuclear energy saved customers millions of dollars in 2009.