COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

Is Vice Mayor Jay Kramer really a turncoat?

Florida Power & Light operatives, pro-sale utility activists, online commenters, city council candidate Charlie Wilson and even Council member Pilar Turner have all accused Vero Beach Vice Mayor Jay Kramer of nothing short of treason for not supporting the sale of Vero Electric to FPL.

Essentially, Kramer’s detractors claim he misled voters in the fall of 2010, when he first ran for a seat on the City Council. Those who would have Kramer tarred and feathered and then run out of town say he promised voters he would stand arm-in-arm with Tracy Carroll, Pilar Turner and Craig Fletcher in their unquestioned support of selling Vero Electric to FPL before the terms of the deal were negotiated, and before legal impediments to the sale were fully explored and understood.

By accusing Kramer of being a turncoat, the pro-sale crowd is further demonstrating that it is far more interested in getting its way than in honoring the truth.

In a press report published August 30, 2010, two months before Kramer’s election to the City Council, he was quoted saying he believed at the time there were “a lot of questions that need to be answered before a decision is made on whether to sell the electric utility.”

Press Journal reporter Ed Bierschenk, the last knowledgable, responsible reporter Scripps has assigned to the story, wrote that Kramer thought the best solution might be to, “have FPL buy the portion of the municipal system that lies outside the city limits if that is what the county and Indian River Shores desires.”

Now, four years later, with nearly $2 million in legal fees flushed down the drain, the County and the Shores are pushing for the very solution Kramer suggested in 2010.  The only difference today is that, rather than seeking a partial sale, the County and the Shores seem to be trying to help FPL pull off a “partial steal” of Vero Beach 20,000 out-of-city customers.

Are Vero Beach’s FMPA contracts an insurmountable impediment to lower rates?

Councilwoman Pilar Turner, a staunch support of selling Vero Electric to FPL despite the shifting terms and rising costs, continues to insist Vero Beach’s Florida Municipal Power Agency entitlement shares will forever stand as an insurmountable wall separating Vero Electric’s customers from the promised land of lower rates.

Turner, a champion of benchmarking, might do well to compare the approach she has advocated over the last four years to the policies pursued by more thoughtful, reasoning leaders in Lake Worth.  Like Vero Beach, Lake Worth receives approximately one-third of its peak power load from the FMPA’s St. Lucie Nuclear and Stanton power projects.  But unlike Vero Beach, Lake Worth is able to charge a rate far more competitive with FPL.  In fact, Lake Worth’s current rate for 1000 KWH of residential power is just $105, compared to $99.17 for FPL.  Adding a 6 percent franchise fee to FPL’s rate essentially brings Lake Worth and FPL into parity at $105 vs. $105.12.

Rather than continue to insist Vero Beach’s FMPA entitlement shares amount to a terminal disease, Turner might better serve the community by rolling up her sleeves and joining those who are working on ways to lower rates.