COMMENTARY
MARK SCHUMANN
Unless Florida Power & Light C.E.O Eric Silagy is supremely confident he can pull a rabbit out of his hat, you’d think he would do a better job of throttling back the unrealistically optimistic public statements being made by his external affairs manager.
Month after month, as the negotiations to sell Vero Electric have dragged on, Amy Brunjes and her colleagues have continued to insist they expect to conclude the sale by the end of 2014. Time may prove these statements to be hollow assurances.
Who can forget the certainty with which FPL spokesman Ryan Fair, in advance of the March 2013 sales contract, said that FPL was confident of closing the deal by the end of 2014. Fair’s confidence in sealing the deal in 2014 didn’t keep him from negotiating a contract that allows for a closing as late as December 31, 2016.
Apparently trusting Fair, Press Journal columnist Russ Lemmon wrote in advance of the March referendum, “If things go as planned from here on out, FPL will take over the system in early 2014.”
Lemmon and others might have given at least equal weight to a statement made Feb. 22 of last year by Fred Bryant, attorney for the Florida Municipal Power Agency. In advance of the March referendum Bryant said, “It’s going to be a difficult, long process. It will probably take us every bit of Oct. 1, 2016, to accomplish this — if it is able to be accomplished.”
Bryan’s statement didn’t sound much like the public relations spin being served up by FPL’s external affairs team, but it is proving to be closer to the truth.
Well, early 2014 is upon us. The city has spent some $1.5 million in legal fees and no one even knows if the sale can go forward, much less when. Brunjes can stand before the Vero Beach City Council and repeat her assertion that “FPL remains confident of concluding the sale by the end of 2014” until she is blue in the face, but her persistence in repeating that claim doesn’t make it true.
Brunjes also told the Council this week it will be known by late February if the Florida Municipal Power Agency board of directors will accept the settlement offer recommended by FMPA staff. Brunjes did not mention that FPL has yet to indicate whether it will agree to the FMPA’s proposed terms. (What is known is that FPL has gone fishing with the Orlando Utilities Commission to see if a better deal can be had there.)
Brunjes also did not bother to mention that whatever decision the FMPA board makes regarding Vero Beach’s request for an early exit from the All Requirements Project, it must be approved by each of the project’s 22 members. That review and approval process will take time, and any member can veto the deal.
If one or more members of the ARP look skeptically on Vero Beach’s request, it may be for good reason. Any amendment to the contract designed to allow for Vero Beach’s early departure will have to be made to apply to the contracts for each of the remaining 21 members. With the ARP carrying some $2 billion in debt, such revisions to the contracts could impact the FMPA’s credit rating.
Regardless of what FPL’s public relations specialists claim, any customers of Vero Electric who want significantly lower electric rates before late 2016 probably should consider turning down their thermostat now and then up again come summer.
Indian River Guardian 
Amy Brunjes did not do a very good job of answering any questions when she spoke before the city council . She spoke in verbal circles and without conviction . She played verbal dodgeball with the council and did a poor job overall ..And then there was Charlie Wilson who called for civility and then proceeded to do his normal routine of incivility and half truths . Remember he has proclaimed himself the professor of baloney and he lived up to his self proclaimed title .He never disappoints .
Charlie Wilson called for civility? You have got to be kidding. Wilson’s tirade before the Council late last Tuesday afternoon is a case study of a man loosing control of himself. The words “civility” and “Charlie Wilson” do not belong in the same paragraph, much less the same sentence.
When will Vero wake up to him?
On April 4th, 2011 FPL sent a letter of intent regarding the sale of Vero Beach Electric. Approaching three years of negotiations, there is yet no end in sight, as the City has paid over $1.5M in legal fees, and the hired Attorneys are not even involved as the terms are now being structured between FPL and FMPA.
A closing date may well extend to the end of 2016, although FPL, the transactional attorneys and staff consistently tell the public an earlier sale is hopeful. Myriad appearances at Council meetings have described the strategy and progress, but FMPA representatives, upon which this transaction pivots, have never been present. Vice Mayor Kramer suggested inviting FMPA leadership to a Council meeting could well be instructive.
Alternative options have been proffered, dismissed and resurfaced as the County, Indian River Shores and pubic advocates now seek lobbying and legislation to evoke a partial sale and interfere with the interests of FPL and the City. All at taxpayers’expense.
The taxpayers, and all customers demand and are entitled to relief from high utility rates. The time when such occurs remains in doubt, as consistent promises of a clear path forward is enveloped in fog.