What does it cost each month to run a house in Lake Worth Beach? The listing gives the price, the taxes and maybe an HOA figure. It doesn't say who delivers the electricity. For a buyer comparing homes here with FPL territory a few miles away, that matters more for some homes than for others.
The City of Lake Worth Beach runs its own electric utility. Most of the surrounding county buys power from Florida Power & Light. A January 2026 Palm Beach Post report put the city utility at 28,000 customers. The city charges more per kilowatt-hour once a household goes past 1,000 kWh in a month, and its water rates are built the same way. So the gap with FPL depends on how much a particular house uses. For a modest cottage it's small. For a larger home with a pool, running central air through a Florida summer, it's a real number.
Check the meter before the comps
The mailing address won't tell you which utility serves a home. The city's own start-service application tells applicants to confirm that an address is served by Lake Worth Beach Utilities, and it includes a zone lookup for that purpose. The city's map directory also has a Utility Service Area Look-up that maps the boundaries of its utility service area. Run that check early. It decides which rate schedule applies to every number below.
Service setup is a little different too. The start-service application asks new customers to say whether they're an owner or a tenant and to upload lease or closing documents. It says a credit check sets the deposit, and that applicants who decline to give a Social Security number pay the maximum deposit. The form has fields for electric and water deposits and connection fees but doesn't publish the amounts. A buyer should ask the city for current figures before closing week.
How the city prices a kilowatt-hour
The city's residential electric rate schedule has two tiers:
| Charge | Lake Worth Beach | FPL, October 2026 RS-1 |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly customer charge | $12.93 | $10.52 |
| First 1,000 kWh, energy | 8.451¢ | 7.865¢ |
| First 1,000 kWh, fuel or power cost | 4.096¢ | 2.893¢ |
| Each kWh above 1,000, energy | 10.900¢ | 8.865¢ |
| Each kWh above 1,000, fuel or power cost | 5.096¢ | 3.893¢ |
| Other monthly items | $5 Storm Fund Surcharge | Per-kWh clauses totaling 1.5¢ |
Both utilities charge more above 1,000 kWh, but by different amounts. Add up the per-kWh charges and the city's rate goes from 12.547¢ to 15.996¢ above that line. FPL's October 2026 sheet goes from about 12.26¢ to about 14.26¢ before taxes and fees, once its conservation, capacity, environmental, storm protection and transition-credit clauses are included. Below 1,000 kWh the two are within about a third of a cent per kWh. Above it, the city charges roughly 1.7¢ more for every kWh. The extra cost of a Lake Worth Beach address comes mostly from that upper tier.
The city also lists a $43.20 minimum bill, and its $5 Storm Fund Surcharge has applied to every account since December 1, 2024.
Same month, three households
The Florida Municipal Electric Association publishes a monthly statewide bill comparison. Its September 2026 edition prices the same month for both utilities at three usage levels. FMEA's FPL totals include an average 6% franchise fee. Its municipal totals include general-fund transfers and other charges that apply.
| Monthly use, September 2026 | Lake Worth Beach | FPL with franchise fee | Monthly gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 kWh | $138.40 | $132.64 | $5.76 |
| 1,200 kWh | $170.39 | $161.18 | $9.21 |
| 2,500 kWh | $378.34 | $346.68 | $31.66 |
At 1,000 kWh the gap is the price of a sandwich. At 2,500 kWh it's more than five times larger. Usage doubles and a bit; the gap grows fivefold. That's the upper tier at work. The city's figure in this table also appears to leave out its separate $5 Storm Fund Surcharge, so the actual difference on a Lake Worth Beach bill may be a little wider.
So the cost of running a Lake Worth Beach home depends on the house, not just the city. Size, pool equipment, insulation and air conditioning load decide how far into the upper tier a home goes each month. Two homes at the same list price on the same street can have very different electric bills.
2026 changes landed hardest on high usage
The city adjusted rates twice this year. Both changes pushed the cost up at the top of the usage scale.
January, power cost adjustment. At its January 29, 2026 meeting, the City Commission approved a $7 per 1,000 kWh increase to the power cost adjustment. The Lake Worth Beach Independent reported that the utility had a $102,000 deficit in the fund in December, and that commissioners approved $7 rather than the $6.44 staff had requested. The city sets its power cost adjustment for a projected three-month period and reconciles it quarterly against actual costs. This part of the bill can move during the year.
October, water and sewer. On October 6, 2026, the commission adopted Resolution 48-2026, which applies to water billings issued on or after October 1, 2026. Staff proposed a 4% water increase. The resolution puts all of it on the upper blocks.
For a single-unit residential account, the new volume charges per 100 gallons are:
- Block 1, up to 4,000 gallons a month: $0.391, unchanged
- Block 2, 4,100 to 8,000 gallons: $0.602, unchanged
- Block 3, 8,100 to 12,000 gallons: $0.878, up from $0.815
- Block 4, 12,100 to 20,000 gallons: $1.561, up from $1.426
- Block 5, above 20,000 gallons: $2.048, up from $1.790
Water in the top block now costs more than five times as much as water in the first block. A household that uses little water saw no change in its volume rate. A home that irrigates a large lawn and keeps a pool topped off pays the higher rates on its last and most expensive gallons. Under Resolution 46-2026, the local sewer volume charge for city-water accounts went from $0.689 to $0.738 per 100 gallons, while the customer and base charges stayed the same. Sewer charges therefore rise with water use too.
The utility is also investing in the grid. At the same October 6 meeting, according to a Citizen Portal meeting summary, the commission approved a $3,164,593 contract amendment with Powell Electrical Systems for a hardened switchgear building at a city substation.
What this changes at the listing table
The cost to run a home here varies from house to house, and a buyer can't estimate it from the listing. A buyer comparing a Lake Worth Beach home with a similar FPL-served home elsewhere in the county will guess at the difference. Guesses tend to run high, and that shows up in offers.
A seller can fill the gap. Twelve months of electric and water bills show where the home falls on the tier tables above, summer included. For a compact home that stays near 1,000 kWh, those bills show the city-utility difference is a few dollars a month. For a larger home, they replace an open-ended worry with a fixed, known cost. Either way, the buyer no longer has to price in the unknown.
Buyers can find the city's own guidance on estimates. The water and sewer resolutions say that for an occupied dwelling meeting the existing-customer criteria, the city may use the prior occupant's bills to estimate an average monthly bill. Whether a buyer can get that history directly is a question for the utility. The seller already has the bills.
Rates, deposits and fees here come from the city's and FPL's published schedules and can change. This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice, so please confirm the figures for your own address with the utility and the right professionals.
FAQ
Does every home with a Lake Worth address get city electric service? No. The city tells applicants to confirm service for each address, and its Utility Service Area Look-up maps where its service runs.
Are the October water rates already on bills? Yes. Resolution 48-2026 applies to billings issued on or after October 1, 2026.
Can the electric rate change between now and closing? The power cost adjustment can. The city sets it for three-month periods and reconciles it quarterly.
If you're preparing to sell a Lake Worth Beach home and want to know how its utility history will look to buyers, Daniel Maya can review your bills against the city's current rate tiers and help decide how to present them in your listing package. Request a Confidential Market Consultation.
