Business Digest

FLORIDA POWER RATES WON'T RISE AS MUCH: Florida Power Corp. customers will face a smaller-than-expected increase in their electric bills in January, thanks to a continued fall in the St. Petersburg utility's projected fuel costs. A customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity will pay a monthly bill of $80.35, up slightly from the current $80.25, but lower than the $80.58 that the utility had estimated in September. Until then, Florida Power had expected a 1,000-kilowatt customer to pay $81.64 a month. But the company's projected fuel costs have been falling further than expected, which it attributed to the diversity of its fuel mix. Utilities are required by law to pass on such cost savings to consumers.

MORE CAN JOIN CREDIT UNION: Xerox Federal Credit Union has received permission to extend its benefits to anyone who lives or works in St. Petersburg under an expansion granted by the National Credit Union Administration. The credit union, which serves Xerox employees throughout the country, was previously limited by its charter to serving company employees and 100 select employee and community groups.

MAGAZINES MAY BECOME AOL EXCLUSIVES: Readers looking to get their online fix of popular magazines such as Time or People may soon have only one place to turn: America Online. America Online and Time Inc. are in discussions about making Time Inc.'s magazine content available via America Online, rather than the entire Internet, the Associated Press reported, quoting an unnamed person familiar with the matter. Currently, most of Time Inc.'s magazines, which include Sports Illustrated and Cooking Light, can be read for free online.

DIESEL JEEP COMING: In an effort to increase the fuel efficiencies in the cars it brings to market, DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler division plans to test a diesel-powered Jeep Liberty sport utility vehicle in North America starting in 2004. The Liberty marks Chrysler's first diesel-powered passenger car to be sold in the United States. DaimlerChrysler currently offers diesel engines in its Dodge Ram heavy duty trucks in North America. The introduction also marks the first light-duty sport utility vehicle with a diesel-powered engine to go on sale in the United States.

US AIRWAYS SEEKS EXTENSION: US Airways Group Inc. asked a federal bankruptcy judge in Alexandria, Va., to extend by one month a deadline for filing its plan to come out of bankruptcy. The seventh-largest U.S. airline expects to submit its recovery plan by the end of next month with an aim of completing its reorganization in the first quarter of 2003.

SUNTRUST SELLS BONDS: SunTrust Banks Inc., the ninth-biggest U.S. bank, sold $500-million of 15-year notes. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Salomon Smith Barney managed the sale. The 5.45 percent notes, maturing in 2017, were offered at a price of $997.57 per $1,000 face amount to yield 1.32 percentage points more than Treasuries with comparable maturities.

TREASURY AUCTION: Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities rose in Monday's auction. The Treasury Department sold $15-billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 1.210 percent, up from 1.205 percent last week. An additional $15-billion was sold in six-month bills at a rate of 1.265 percent, up from 1.245 percent. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors: 1.228 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,969.80 and 1.291 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,936.40.

Correction

Marla Hough of Hough Engineering is married to the son of a cousin of Republic Bancshares chairman William R. Hough. A column on Sunday misidentified the relationship.

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