NEWS ANALYSIS

MARK SCHUMANN

City Manager Jim O’Connor announced yesterday that the Orlando Utilities Commission officially informed him the City’s power plant will not longer be called on to generate power. The move is in accordance with recently revised contract terms between the City and the OUC.

Ninety-six years after buying what had been a privately run electric generation plant located downtown near the railroad tracks, the City is now out of the power generation business.

Going forward, Vero Electric joins the majority of municipal utilities in owning a transmission system through which it will distribute power bought on the wholesale market. Collectively, Florida’s municipal utilities offer a lower average rate than do the state’s investor-owned utilities.

In recent years, the power plant has been run essentially as a back-up system and as a means of meeting the city’s peak load on the hottest and coldest days of the year. Because the generators sat idle much of the time, keeping the plant open and staffed has been costing the customers of Vero Electric some $4 million a year.

Of the 20 employees working at “Big Blue,” ten are eligible for retirement. According to city staff, a number of others will be offered open positions in other city departments. No more than five power plant works are expiated to be laid off.

According to Ted Fletcher, director of the city’s electric utility operations, most of the plant workers will remain on the job through July, helping to decommission the facility.

“Big Blue,” as the power plant is called, was first built in 1961. At the time, one reason city leaders gave for remaining in the power business was that electric utilities are by their very nature monopolies, and as such “should remain under the control of the people, not a few individuals.”

Locally, perhaps no issue has been more hotly contested, more vigorously debated and more divisive that whether Vero Beach should remain in the power business.

Though it now appears clear Vero Beach’s long-term contractual obligations to the Florida Municipal Power Association prevent a sale of Vero Electric, three out of five candidates in last Tuesday’s municipal election made selling the electric system a central issue of their campaign.

One candidate, Harry Howle, ran on a five-point plan he assured voters will result in a sale. Howle, who opposed revising the City’s existing contract with the OUC, was elected over incumbent Amelia Graves by 50 votes. Howle’s strongest support came from barrier islanders, who as a group, clearly have not given up on a sale of Vero Electric.

Some would argue that many islanders have become brainwashed by the island weekly, Vero Beach 32963. Whether it is a point of pride, a strategy for building and holding readership, or a political objective of the newspaper’s owners, Vero Beach 32963 has since its founding in 2008 been harshly critical of all efforts to lower electric rates. One of the newspaper’s initial investors, Bob Gibb of John’s Island, contributed $500 to Howle’s campaign.

Because Howle’s plan depends on Legislative action and/or a court victory, many see it as unrealistic. Time will tell. For now, though, one thing is clear. Vero Beach is no longer in the power generating business. As a result, the City’s electric customers will begin seeing savings on their bills starting in December.