MARK SCHUMANN

Addressing the Republican Men’s Breakfast this morning, Mayor Richard Winger said, “The Power sale is dead. All recourse – lawsuits, a partial sale – it’s all gone.”

Delivering the sobering news to a clearly disappointed crowd, Winger stressed that he and others have worked hard to conclude the sale of the City’s electric system to Florida Power & Light, but without success.

Though critical of the previous Council majority of Tracy Carroll, Craig Fletcher and Pilar Turner for signing a contract with FPL that has what he believes to be more than a dozen flaws, Winger said he still supported the sale as a way of lowering rates while also freeing up some $30 million in working capital to resolve the City’s unfunded pension obligations.

“For me, it has always been about lowering rates and it is still my goal to bring down rates,” Winger said.

Winger outlined the reasons he believes the sale fell apart: contracts that do not expire for decades to come; closing costs that are unreasonably; but most importantly, commitments to support power projects and to buy power that no one else will accept.

Winger described the Orlando Utilities Commission’s decision to back out of the deal as “a huge, huge blow,” because, he said, “We have no other buyer.”

Winger dismissed the prospect of suing the Florida Municipal Power Agency saying, “There is not one chance in a million of overturning those contracts.”

Even if the FMPA were in breach of the contracts that have already been validated by the Florida Supreme Court, the remedy would be financial or corrective. “That would not get us out of the contracts,” Winger explained.

Further, Winger said, none of the attorneys working with the City have suggested there is a legal case to be made against the FMPA. “I would be totally against spending the public’s money on lawsuits that have no chance of succeeding. It’s dead. Get over it.”

Winger then explained how the City might turn its utility over to an authority, with the expectation it would be run more efficiently and with less political influence. “I’ve had it with the City Council running the electric utility business,” he said.

There are several possible structures for a utility authority. The basic concept is that the City would assign its contracts and turn over its assets and its ongoing business to an independent utility authority. In exchange, the City would receive an agreed upon return on invested capital.

Finally, Winger underscoring his belief the power sale is dead. Reviving the negotiations, he said, “would be like raising Lazarus from the dead.”

After Winger concluded, pro-sale utility activist and City Council candidate Charlie Wilson stood up to challenge the mayor. “Get over it? That’s your plan?” Wilson said as he jabbed his hand at Winger.

Others more politely asked questions about how a utility authority would operate, and about the pros and cons of leaving the contract with FPL in place until it expires on December 31, 2016. Winger said when that contract is set aside the city will have more flexibility in pursuing up to 18 options for lowering rates.