MARK SCHUMANN

The members of the Florida Public Service Commission today unanimously rejected the Town of Indian River Shores’ claim that it, and not the PSC, has the sole an exclusive authority to determine which electric utility will serve the Town.

Previous to the Shores’ filing for a declaratory statement from the PSC, circuit court judge Cynthia Cox dismissed three of four counts in the Town’s lawsuit against the City of Vero Beach.  Shores leaders are seeking to force Vero Electric to discontinue service to the Town, presumably in preference to Florida Power & Light.

Recent public discussions among Town leaders suggest their next move may be to attempt to force Vero Beach to sell its Shores customer base to FPL.  So far, FPL has offered far less than Vero Beach leaders say the would need to avoid negativity impacting the remaining customers of Vero Electric.

So far, the Shores Town Council has spent more than $800,000 pursuing its case against Vero Beach.