Power costs to members down 30% since 2009

Editor’s note: Vero Beach is a member of the Florida Municipal Power Agency, buying approximately one third of its wholesale power from the joint action agency.

NEWS RELEASE

Wholesale electricity costs from the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) decreased 10% last year and are down 30% since 2009, according to FMPA’s recently released 2015 Annual Report. Declining fuels costs and a modern, efficient fleet of power generators have resulted in competitive wholesale electric costs for the municipal electric utilities served by FMPA.

“I’m proud of how FMPA’s member cities and staff have worked together to improve our competitive position,” said FMPA General Manager and CEO Nicholas Guarriello. “During the past few years, we’ve addressed some challenging issues. Today, we’re stronger than ever. The results speak for themselves, and we are well positioned for the future.”

Highlights of the 2015 fiscal year included:

Power Costs Decrease: All-Requirements Project (ARP) power costs decreased 10% from the prior year and are down a total of 30% since fiscal 2009. As a result, FMPA’s costs are lower than one major investor-owned utility and nearing the other.

Load Growth: ARP’s net energy for load grew 1.4% in fiscal 2015 on a weather normalized basis. This is the second consecutive year of load growth for the ARP, which grew 0.8% in fiscal 2014.

Clean Emission Profile: Natural gas-fired gen­eration supplied more than 80% of ARP energy sources in fiscal 2015, while less than 15% of energy came from coal-fired generation. ARP’s young fleet of largely gas-fueled generation gives the project one of the cleaner emission profiles in the state.

Exploring Utility-Scale Solar: FMPA is working with its members to develop a joint-action, utility scale solar project that is cost-effective for customers and addresses the limitations of roof-top solar systems.