COMMENTARY

“Amazingly, the members of the County Commission can, with straight faces, continue to levy a 6 percent franchise fee while arguing that Vero Beach should not earn a 6 percent return on its electric utility operations.”

MARK SCHUMANN

Claiming their only motivation is to seek rate relief for some 20,000 customers of Vero Electric located in the unincorporated areas of Indian River County, the five members of the County Commission have unanimously supported efforts to force Vero Beach to abandon its out-of-city customers and its utility infrastructure when the franchise agreement between the City and County expires in 2017.

What the Commissioners are not quick to tell constituents, though, is that Indian River Shores customers of Vero Electric pay six percent less than all other customers outside the Vero Beach’s city limits.  For example, utility activist Steven Faherty pays six percent more than Shores residents using a comparable amount of power.  Why? Because Faherty lives on the south barrier island in the unincorporated area of Indian River County.  Upon those residents, the County Commission assesses a 6 percent franchise fee.

Amazingly, the members of the County Commission can, with straight faces, continue to levy a 6 percent franchise fee while arguing that Vero Beach should not earn a 6 percent return on its electric utility operations.

In a recent report by the island weekly, County Commissioner Peter O’Bryan was quoted as saying, “Every time we bring up the cessation of the transfer to the general fund, they (Vero) say we can’t do that. That is something they could do tomorrow. They have backed us into this corner where we have to take these positions.”

The “positions” O’Bryan referred to are the Commission’s ill-advised, hugely expensive and terribly bungled appeal to the Florida Public Service Commission, as well as a recent decision to direct County staff to begin preparing a request for proposals from other possible electric providers – namely Florida Power & Light.

On March 2, the PSC is to rule on the County’s request for clarification of what rights, if any, it has to kick Vero Electric out of the unincorporated areas of the County.  Every utility in Florida, including FPL, has lined up against the County.  What the PSC is likely to say, in the most diplomatic language possible, is that maintaining a reliable power grid across the state and ensuring utilities continued and affordable access to capital markets are priorities far more important than catering to the parochial interests and intrigues of the Indian River County Commission.