Carroll, Fletcher, Turner bless electric rate increase

NEWS ANALYSIS

MARK SCHUMANN

"Our costs are going up from taking in the power from the OUC" said Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll, as she approved a 1.9 percent rate increase. In truth, the OUC's per megawatt hour charge to the City is down, from $75.78 in FY 2011/2012 to $69.33 for the first eight months of 2013. — “Our costs are going up from taking in the power from the OUC.” said Vice Mayor Tracy Carroll, as she approved a 1.9 percent rate increase. In truth, the OUC’s per megawatt hour charge to the City is down, from $75.78 in FY 2011/2012 to $69.33 for the first eight months of 2013.

City Council members Tracy Carroll, Craig Fletcher and Pilar Turner rejected Richard Winger’s motion to table a proposed 1.9 percent electric rate increase until January. Jay Kramer supported Winger’s suggestion, arguing the City has made no serious effort to control rates.

“There are options to try to lower rates through better managing our power plant,” Kramer said. Kramer contends that because the city’s electric system is eventually to be sold to Florida Power & Light, no effort is being made to better manage the utility in the meantime.

Carroll countered, “Our costs are going up from taking in the power from the OUC.” In truth, though, the OUC’s per megawatt hour charge to the City is down, from $75.78 in FY 2011/2012 to $69.33 for the first eight months of this year.

Kramer and Winger contend the city could lower its power costs by negotiating with the Florida Municipal Power Agency and the OUC to run units 2 and 5 in the city’s power plant. These natural gas fired unites are more economical than the OUC’s Stanton I and Stanton II coal plants located east of Orlando.

Finance Director Cindy Lawson told the Council the 1.9 percent rate increase will raise $900,000, which she says in needed to replenish the electric system reserve fund. that fund was drawn on to cover higher-than-expected costs in the current fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30.

Interestingly, though Lawson and City Manager Jim O’Connor attributed Vero Electric’s red ink to wholesale power costs, they made no mention of the fact that the city’s legal bills were some $500,000 over budget for the 2012/2013 fiscal year.

Billings from the law firm of Edwards Wildman were more than $800,000, with an additional $250,00 recently approved by the City City Council. The city also received bills totaling $114,000 from Nixon Peabody, the Florida Municipal Power Agency’s bond counsel. In addition to nearly $1 million in legal fees, the city paid $100,000 in consulting fees for work hired out to a consultant through Edwards Wildman.

2 comments

The “leaders” of COVB should not take their health insurance for a part-time job and insist that low income citizens pay the addedd burden of higher electric rates.

I’m a little confused. Why do we need to raise the rates? We are going to be able to live without the City Electric without raising taxes according to the Troika.They actually should be transfering less money to the general fund and passing the savings onto the ratepayers.