COMMENTARY
MARK SCHUMANN
Taking Florida Power & Light spokeswoman Amy Brunjes at her word, the sale of Vero Electric is progressing through the regulatory approval process and negotiations are going well with the Florida Municipal Power Agency. According to Brunjes, the company expects to be serving the 34,000 customers of Vero Electric by the end of 2014.
Brunjes good news was underscored in a post card FPL mailed to Vero Beach voters this past week. In short, according to FPL, all is well.
Brunjes delivered this message to the Indian River County Commission this past week. Interestingly, though, Brunjes’ assurances that the Vero Beach deal is now on a sure and steady path forward did not keep the commissioners from taking the advice of utility activist Glenn Heran to hire a lobbying firm that would help seal the deal.
Heran has maintained local governments should share in the cost of hiring a top Tallahassee lobbying firm to work through the Florida Legislature to pressure the FMPA.
With the Vero Beach deal all but in the bag, what is Heran up to, and why would the County Commission commit tax dollars to join in Heran’s crusade against public power?
Perhaps the biggest irony here is that Heran, an outspoken proponent of “limited” government and the president of the Taxpayers’ Association, persuaded the County Commission to spend no less that $78,000 in taxpayers’ money to carry on a state-wide fight with the FMPA that is now of no concern locally.
What other municipal utilities FPL is able to acquire is between them, the FMPA and any cities that may become targets for acquisition by the state’s largest investor-owned utility. Vero Beach doesn’t need to get involved in this fight any more than the United States need to be policing the MIddle East.
In conversations I have had with Heran, he has, on several occasions, made it crystal clear that he believes cities should not be in the utility business. More importantly, he is energized, no, driven, by a deep conviction that the FMPA is “an institution of inefficiency and should be disbanded.”
It is all well and good for Heran to have a cause that has him getting up in the morning infused with purpose, but what is this to the taxpayers of Indian River County? With the ink dry on the contract between Vero Beach and FPL, what does this state-wide utility fight mean to us?
Indian River Guardian 
It means more interference by government–more government, not less. It means towns in Florida may be on the straightaway to losing their independence and individuality. It means people like Mr. Heran, Mr. Wilson, and Dr. Faherty can be depended upon to step in and run for a touchdown – even if they end up running in a direction opposite to what we want. It means we better be a lot more careful who we send to represent us in Tallahassee. And I think it means we can’t trust certain people or groups in our county anymore. Tallahassee – well, that’s another world as is. It’s Florida’s “D.C.” – and just about as out of touch as Washington, D.C.
lets see if I was a city resident. I get more taxes to keep the quality of life I want and no guarantee in a few years fpl WONT have its rate higher then vero beach. only recently has the state starting to THINK to tell FPL NO on the raises its asking for. hey I thought fpl was a free market entity with the right to charge as it pleases.instead its possible that it bribes the men and women whom it must go to for the rate increases. yup that’s free market alright!i wish we could derugalate the power monopolies and get rates that are more reasonable.