FPL Gives Details of Potential Lease

Oct 26th- FPL Spokesman Ryan Fair said FPL would pay $1 million per year to the City of Vero Beach to lease the property under the power plant. Fair also said FPL's timeline to complete $7.5 million in transmission upgrades to the Vero Beach system and $17 million in upgrades to the FPL system could be completed by 2016 if things on the front end of the process move along by the end of 2011.

Fair said FPL would move the substation located at the power plant at FPL's own estimated cost of $5 to $6 million and then FPL would decommission the power plant, hopefully by 2017. Read Vero News Article

 

Panel's Recommendations in Question

Sep 8th- Vero's utilities and finance commissions, volunteer panels set up to provide “recommendations” to the City Council, are seeking to exercise some real power by telling the Council to pull back from current efforts to sell the electric, water and sewer utilities. In the case of Vero electric, the panels told the Council not to try to work out a purchase price with Florida Power and Light until every one of nine outstanding contractual obligations is "settled" – a process that could take years. As for Vero water and sewer, the advisory panels told the Council to “cease” talks with Indian River County about water-sewer regionalization unless the county agrees to pay at least $77 million – and preferably $100 million – for the system. At least one Council member seemed disinclined to heed the commission’s instructions, which were set for discussion at Tuesday’s meeting. "I was outraged at the lunacy of their resolutions," said Councilman Brian Heady. "Who are they to tell me I can't talk to anybody about anything, any time I want to." READ FULL STORY

What is Vero Electric Worth? 

Sept 1st- GAI Consultants have valued the City of Vero Beach electric utility at $184.9 million. Although it will take a while for all interested parties to sift through the thick valuation reports, initial reactions reveal a growing cynicism about the "due diligence" process on the part of those who would like to a sale to Florida Power and Light at least get a fair shake. "This is pretty much what we expected with GAI in the driver's seat and the City Council allowing them to steer this process," said utility activist and CPA Glenn Heran. "What those hugely inflated numbers don't take into account is the value of off-loading the utilities and streamlining government, and they don't take into account the substantially lower utility rates Vero customers would get. Read 32963 Article

Can Vero Divide Electric Customers With FPL?

Aug 25th- Vero Beach Mayor Jay Kramer said Friday a partial sale of the city’s electric utility would be good for both the city and for those who live outside city limits because it would avoid all the problems and litigation likely to ensue once Vero gets close to getting out of the electric business. But an FPL official said a few days earlier that breaking up the current Vero electric utility was “not do-able.” So who’s right? It turns out that, though technically possible, a partial sale – even if FPL could be talked into it, which seems unlikely – would quite possibly leave island residents more vulnerable to power outages and city residents with the prospect of higher rates than ever as the result of a sketchy business plan. Read 32963 Article

 

Is City Council Loosing Control of Electric Issue 

July 14- Two new moves in the past week indicate a dramatic ramping up of the effort by the Vero Beach city staff and their pet consultants to control what the City Council sees and hears about the sale of the electric, water and sewer utilities. GAI Consultants sent Vero Beach a new, all-encompassing $3 million proposal for the cost of “experts” to handle the sale of the electric utility to Florida Power & Light. On top of the $238,900 already committed to GAI, the Orlando firm now says it will cost an estimated $1 million to extricate the city from the Florida Municipal Power Agency and another $1.5 million to GAI engineers to shepherd the sale through and assist during a transition period. The proposal also contains substantial unknown amounts and language such as “not estimated” and “may be much more” for some items. Read 32963 Article

IR County Residents are Paying the Price

Two Florida powerhouses have very publicly clashed about whether the City of Vero Beach would be better off selling its electric utility to Florida Power and Light. In defense of 34 municipal-operated utilities and the revenues pumped into the general funds of cities and counties, Florida Municipal Electric Association Executive Director Barry Moline recently released a position paper criticizing everything from FP&L’s reliability to its tree-trimming schedule. Read More

 

 FP&L to Vero: Let's Make a Deal

The Vero Beach City Council has commenced negotiations for the much discussed sale of ‘Big Blue’ to Florida Power and Light (FP&L) after rebuffing the effort of city staff and consultants to rewrite the letter of intent. The negotiations officially began following Mayor Jay Kramer’s signature Friday of a modified letter of intent submitted by FP&L Read 32963 Article

 

IR County- Residents Say, "Yes We Can"

 For years, Indian River County residents have expressed their frustration with the unregulated monopoly run by Vero Beach Utilities. For years, residents were told that FPL had no interest in purchasing the system. For years, opponents have said a sale of the system to FP&L could never happen and that new customers would never be given the lower rates enjoyed by existing FP&L customers...

We now know all these things are actually possible. In submitting a Letter of Intent to the City of Vero Beach on Monday (see stories below and on Page 8), FP&L told us:  We don’t have to continue paying the sky-high bills that Vero uses to skim millions of dollars from island electric customers to subsidize the city’s bloated bureaucracy;  We don’t have to remain locked into the antiquated Vero electric system and the Orlando Utilities Contract, with its scandalous penalty clause; and  We don’t have to continue to underwrite a good-old-boy culture at City Hall and the power plant that has been a costly and ongoing source of embarrassment and shame. The official word from FP&L is a sale can happen. Lower electric rates for beachside residents are possible. But knowing good things can actually happen – and seeing them come to pass – are two different things. While we are hopeful that the insurgents on the Vero Beach City Council will continue to try to move the sale to FPL forward, Vero’s Old Guard can be expected to fight this every step of the way. READ MORE

 

State Panel Demanding Answers

After 15 months on hold, a complaint lodged against the City of Vero Beach Electric utility for operating an “unregulated price monopoly” has led the Florida Public Service Commission to come out swinging. The PSC recently sent the city a list of pointed questions, indicating that the agency is taking up the complaint in earnest. So far, the Vero Beach City Council has held off on hiring an attorney to fight back. Instead, the consensus was that staff should hand over the figures as best it can and beg for more time if needed. The answers are due in Tallahassee on March 3. Among the data the PSC wants from the city is an accurate count of customers -- both inside and outside the city -- and an accounting of more than $26.5 million in fuzzy expenditures that the city passes down via utility bills each year. READ MORE