Were City Council members Tracy Carroll, Craig Fletcher and Pilar Turner acting in good faith on behalf of the residents and taxpayers of Vero Beach when they accepted an offer for the electric system that is nearly half the value of the offer Florida Power & Light presented in 2002 for Homestead Energy Services?
At today’s City Council meeting, Councilwoman Pilar Turner seemed unaware of the details of FPL’s 2002 effort to acquire Homestead’s electric utility.
The following story was posted on InsideVero.com July 15, 2013.
Editor’s Note: In 2002, Florida Power & Light offered $115 million for Homestead Energy Services, an offer amounting to $6,886 per customers for a 16,700 customer utility. At least according to documents filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FPL has offer just under $115 million for Vero Electric, a utility with a customer base of 33,000. At $6,886 per meter, FPL would be paying $220 million for Vero Electric. Some are wondering if Vero Beach may have left some $100 million on the table.
by Deborah Cicelli, Palm Beach Post (July 19, 2002)
JUNO BEACH — Florida Power & Light Co. said Thursday that it has made a $115 million bid to buy out the city of Homestead’s electrical utility.
If the deal goes through it will be the first time in a least 35 years the giant utility, a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc. (NYSE: FPL, $52.39), has bought a municipal utility, according to an FPL spokesman.
Homestead City Manager Curt Ivy said the city has asked FPL to come back with a revised proposal by Sept. 1, however. FPL was offering to pay $7 million to $9 million immediately for some of Homestead’s assets, which the city believes are worth more.
The bid for Homestead Energy Services includes buying out existing power contracts. FPL would also take over 16,700 customers and buy most of the city’s assets such as powerlines, poles, transformers, substations and customer accounts.
The Homestead electric utility’s 65 employees would be offered jobs if they qualify, and FPL would pay the city severance costs for employees who are not hired.
The deal will not include buying the utility’s approximately 50-megawatt power plant, which FPL officials said is outdated and would be inefficient to operate.
Indian River Guardian 
This is exactly what has been said all along…FPL is cheating the people of Vero Beach and this council (the Troika) has voted for this deal from the beginning.. This is what I have been saying all along, we are not getting a FAIR deal. We should have been offered at least $215 million for our customer base not including the infrastructure, but I guess Heran, Faherty, Wilson, Mucher, Carroll, Turner, and Fletcher know better than the taxpayers do. What a shame this is and guess who is throwing it back in our faces? FPL—FPL—FPL. It is too bad for us and to make matters worse the Troika has just approved another rate hike…..Smooch…Smooch..Kiss..Kiss Vero Beach!!!
Of course they approved a hike. That is consistent with their plans. They want us to thank them for imposing FPL on us with FPL’s “better” rates for the moment. Just wait and see what will happen in the future.
Wait until you see what the City will have to do to make up for the shortfall of income. They will have no choice. If the money is no longer there, they can either cut our services so that Vero is no longer Vero, or they can raise Taxes to make up for the loss of funds. How will that go over, do you think? Or you can do a little of both. How ever you look at it, it ain’t good.
Wake up you guys, you voted them in and they have done what they said they would do. So now lets get rid of at least one of them. You know, the one who wants to rent her extra house (can we rent it by the hour?) for short rentals. She’s the one who doesn’t respect people who do not accept her God.
That would break their hold. Just be careful which one you put in next.