Florida Power & Light will need to increase electricity production by 25 percent over the next decade to meet rising demand, the company said Tuesday.

In a document outlining its plans for the next 10 years filed with state regulators, the state's largest electric company said it expects to have more than 5 million customers by 2017. Electricity usage will also increase by 16 percent for each residential customer by then.

FPL plans to build new nuclear generators at its Turkey Point facility south of Miami and to upgrade existing nuclear generators there and in St. Lucie County to deal with the growth.

The company said it also plans to aggressively pursue alternative sources of energy, including solar power, and is also seeking to build a new natural gas generator at a plant in Palm Beach County.

The state's second largest electric company, St. Petersburg-based Progress Energy Florida, also filed an outline of its plans over the next decade with the Public Service Commission Tuesday. It said it will seek to build a new natural gas generating unit at its existing plant in Suwannee County in north Florida.

The new generator, if it goes forward, would replace three 1950s era oil-buring plants at the Suwannee County facility in an effort to lower emissions and improve efficiency, the company said.

Progress said previously it wants to build two new nuclear generators that would start running in 2016 and 2017. The natural gas plant would be ready sooner, likely in 2013.

Progress serves 1.7 million Florida customers.

FPL serves 4.5 million Florida customers in 35 counties.

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