BY MARK SCHUMANN

The public has been lead to believe the value of Florida Power & Light’s offer for Vero Electric is $179 million.  Yet, in documents submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lawyers representing FPL are telling regulators the purchase price for Vero Beach’s 34,000-customer electric system is $111.5 million.

The difference, of course, can be accounted for in the value FPL has placed on “other considerations,” such as transmission and distribution upgrades, the cost of a new substation and some $5 million to decommission the power plant.

Many have argued these post-sale investments should not be considered in the value of FPL’s offer.  They are, some say, simply the legitimate cost of maintaining ongoing business interests.

On the other hand, if investments in the system can reasonably be considered in the cost of acquiring Vero Beach’s electric utility, then why aren’t those costs being factored into the price FPL is telling the FERC it is paying for the system?

To put it another way, if FPL wants Vero Beach’s residents and taxpayers to believe it is paying $179 million for Vero Electric, why would the company turn around and tell the FERC the purchase price is just $111.5 million?

At least some of the information being presented to the FERC doesn’t square with what the public has been told.  For example, City Councilwoman Pilar Turner maintains the decommissioning of the power plant and the transmission and distribution upgrades are all necessary to fulfill her objective of “liberating the waterfront.”

Lawyers representing FPL are telling the FERC a different story.  In a letter submitted May 28, the company stated, “…these generation facilities (Vero Electric’s power plant) are old and will need to be decommissioned in the near future…”

So, which is it?  Either the power plant is set to be decommissions because Turner and company have another vision for the waterfront, or because the generators are near the end of their useful life – never mind that the city just spent $3.5 million on scheduled maintenance.

The public is being told some $5 million of FPL’s $179 million offer will go to pay to decommission the power plant.  But FPL is telling the FERC it may “attempt in the future to recover in its rates the cost of decommissioning the generating facilities it purchases from Vero Beach.”

That’s right. The trusting citizens of Vero Beach are being asked to believe $5 million that could otherwise come to the city as cash proceeds must instead be spent to decommission the power plant, yet FPL plans to also pass the cost on to its customers.

Next Tuesday, Realtor David Ashcroft will present the City Council with a proposal for an alternate location for FPL’s new substation.  If Ashcroft and his partners prevail on FPL to accept their proposal, the southwest corner of 17^th Street and Indian River Boulevard can be preserved for some better use than housing an electrical substation.

FPL is balking, though, claiming it would cost some $1.6 million more to build on an alternate site just 300 years to the west.

Here is a possibly solution. Why not let FPL reduce it’s cash offer by $1.6 million?  It’s only funny money.