Editor’s note: “I invited Rep. Mayfield with the hope that she could shed some light on the challenges and pitfalls facing a ‘legislative solution’ to the FMPA fracas. As such a solution has gained increasing attention, I am seeking to afford us a better understanding of it,” wrote new Utilities Commission Chairman Laura Moss.

Moss, who lost her bid for a seat on the Vero Beach City Council last fall, will almost surely run again this year. Given that Moss appears to be politicizing her new role as chairman of the Utilities Commission, it is worth nothing that the source from which she now claims to be seeking “better understanding,” namely outgoing State. Rep. Debbie Mayfield, could not be more biased and misguided in her understanding of utility issues. The following story, first published on Dec. 12, 2014, explores Mayfield’s utter failure to comprehend the obstacles she would face in persuading the Florida Legislature to turn Florida’s utility industry upside down just to appease malcontents in Vero Beach.

COMMENTARY

MARK SCHUMANN

When it comes to vetting guest commentary for truthfulness and veracity, it appears the editors of The Beaches Leader/Ponte Vedra Leader and the Vero Beach Press Journal hold themselves to a pretty low standard. The Leader and the Press Journal recently published as guest commentary a letter to the editor that was – there’s no other way to say it — chock full of lies.

The claims made in the letter published in the Dec. 11 edition of The Leader and the Dec. 13 issue of the Press Journal are so disconnected from the truth that one wonders if the author is suffering from bouts of delusion, or is simply a master propagandist.

The author, allegedly, is none other than Indian River County’s State Rep. Debbie Mayfield. (Reportedly, Mayfield moved out of Indian River County soon after winning re-election to represent House District 54.) I say “allegedly,” because the letter reads as if it was written by one of Indian River County’s utility activists, or perhaps someone working in the public relations or “external affairs” department of a major utility.

Stranger things have happened. Just last week, the New York Times reported Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt signed and sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency that was actually written almost entirely by officials with Devon Energy. (See: A Letter From Oklahoma’s Attorney General, Written Almost Entirely by Energy Company Officials)

Whoever wrote the letter signed by Mayfield, they sure have it in for the Florida Municipal Power Agency, a joint action agency of more than 30 of Florida’s municipal electric utilities. Let’s take Mayfield’s misstatements and lies one at a time.

“Many of the municipal utilities across Florida are struggling with declining service, high emissions and outrageous rates,” Mayfield wrote.

The assertions that municipal utilities charge outrageous rates is a curious claim to make, given that the statewide average rate for 1000 kilowatt hours is higher for investor-owned utilities than for municipal utilities. Mayfield, or whoever wrote the letter, wants Floridians to believe they would be better off if the state’s investor-owned utilities were aided by the Legislature in their effort to acquire municipal utilities.

Statewide bill comparisons simply do not support Mayfield’s assertion. The average for investor-owned utilities, all regulated by the Florida Public Service Commission, is $126.46 per thousand kilowatt-hour, compared to $119.97 for municipal utilities.

Mayfield is also wrong in claiming municipal utilities “are struggling with declining service and high emissions…”

In truth, municipal utilities tend to offer better service than utility giants such as Florida Power and Light. After the 2004 hurricanes, for example, customers of Vero Electric had their power restored, in some cases, weeks before FPL customers in Indian River County.

Municipal utilities are not, as Mayfield claims, suffering from high emissions. As an example, the Florida Municipal Power Agency’s All Requirements Project is almost wholly powered by natural gas.

I have heard local utility activists and FPL representatives stand before the Vero Beach City Council and make statements that are disconnected from reality.  Their guiding assumption seems to be that if you repeat a lie often enough the public will eventually believe it. Mayfield’s letter suggests she has adopted the same strategy.

According to Mayfield, “…with many of Florida’s most troubled municipal utilities, there seems to be a common denominator: they buy their power wholesale from the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA).”

Mayfield’s assertion does not square with the facts. Kissimmee Electric, which receives its power from the FMPA’s All Requirements Project, has the lowest bill in the state at 1000 kilowatt hours. In many other categories, Tallahassee and Quincy, both municipal utilities, have rates lower than all five investor owned utilities in Florida.

Referring to Vero Beach, Mayfield wrote, “FMPA’s high costs have helped drive local electric rates through the roof.”  The reality is that Vero Beach’s rate — $123.97 – is below the statewide average for the investor-owned utilities Mayfield so admires.

Completely misrepresenting the truth about why Vero Beach’s effort to sell to Florida Power and Light has stalled, Mayfield claimed, “To protect its monopoly, FMPA is blocking the sale.”

In truth, FMPA officials are only doing what the law requires them to do, and what bond trustees expect of them, namely to enforce the terms of the FMPA’s contracts. In fact, in its most recent credit rating of the FMPA, Moody’s noted that a continued high rating could depend on the agency’s willingness and ability to protect bondholders by enforcing the terms of its contracts with Vero Beach and other member cities.

“The FMPA has a monopolistic dictatorship that’s bordering on un-American,” Mayfield wrote.

This fallacious assertion reveals that Mayfield is no longer serving as a dispassionate, reasoning legislator who is seeking to protect the public interest. She now sounds more like Vero Beach utility activists Glen Heran and Seven Faherty, both of whom seem to have made aiding FPL in its expansion efforts the master passion of their lives.

“…chances are, if you are a customer of a municipal provider you could be paying too much for your power,” Mayfield wrote, sounding more like a lobbyist for investor-owned utilities than an elected representative of the people.

Because she is busy carrying water for big energy, Mayfield did not bother to explain to her readers that customers of municipal utilities have recourse through the ballot box.  Not so with with the PSC, whose members are appointed by the legislature, and are bought and paid for through generous campaign contributions.  (See: Florida PSC called corrupt by former chief)

Mayfield led her readers to believe the customers of Vero Electric would save 30 percent if FPL takes over the City’s municipal utility. Not true!  Allowing for a 6 percent franchise fee, based on current rates, the sale of Vero Electric would lead to savings closer to 15 percent, not 30 percent. The rate differential between Vero Electric and FPL will narrow even further, if the City is successful renegotiating its wholesale power agreement with the Orlando Utilities Commission.

“The people running it (FMPA) could be pocketing millions for all we know,” Mayfield claimed. How absurd! How irresponsible! The FMPA’s books are open and audited annually and its reports are available online.

As long as outlandish claims of possible corruption are being tossed around, why not ask how much Mayfield may have been paid, or what promises she may have been given in exchange for putting her name on a letter that reads as if it was written by a public relations wizard working for one of the state’s largest investor-owned utilities.