Comment Up
Part of the discussion at last night's workshop was the Electric Utility's long range plan touching on Reliability, Systems operations capability, Safety, and System configuration which will be implemented, primarily through city staff.
The Plan consists primarily of a 26.4kV sub-transmission system and 13.2kV distribution circuits. The sub-transmission system will be a dedicated system that loops all substations and is not used to serve customer load. Substation voltage will be stepped down to 13.2kV (industry standard) for distribution circuits
The Electric Utility Task Force Chairman, Bill Coakley, was adamant about that years ago and was vilified and stonewalled and stopped by the other volunteer task force members on that board particularly by two alternates, Tony Plakas and Jim Kelly, which ended up costing us perhaps $6 million more than necessary. "They did everything in their power to sink my ship," said Coakley. He further stated, "Always build standard."
We have $16.7 million left for our electric conversion out of the original $34.9 mil that was from the 2004 Bond for the electric and water, divided equally, of nearly $70 mil ($69,925,000). It was reported that we will need to spend another $6 million on the electric. Find a Plan to finish within the money we DO have and do the rest with revenues. Find the right people.
Back on JUNE 10, 2010, our Commission rated what they felt were the most important considerations for our Utility with the lowest number being the most important or the top weight:
1. Reliability: Varela (4), Jennings (1), Golden (1), Mulvehill (1), Maxwell (5)---Weight: 20%
2. Competitive Rate/Fuel Diversity: Varela (1), Jennings (4), Golden (2), Mulvehill (4), Maxwell (2)---Weight: 20%
3. Load estimation/forecasting/Demand: Varela (2), Jennings (2), Golden (6), Mulvehill (2), Maxwell (6) ---Weight: 20%
4. Use of Renewable Energy: Varela (3), Jennings (3), Golden (4). Mulvehill (3), Maxwell (7) ---Weight: 20%
5. Bill stability: Varela (5), Jennings (5), Golden (3), Mulvehill (5), Maxwell (3) ---Weight 10%
6. Own vs. Purchase: Varela (6), Jennings (7), Golden (5), Mulvehill (7), Maxwell (1) ---Weight: 5%
7. Term: Varela (7), Jennings (6), Golden (7), Mulvehill (6), Maxwell (4) ---Weight 5%
The City put out an RFP for a power supplier as we will be out of FMPA's All Requirements by the end of 2013. Eleven providers responded, one of which is FPL and instinctively I would think that FPL has the advantage for many reasons that I won't go into now. All bids are due by the close of business on April 30.
There was to be a selection committee consisting of the City Commission, Finance Director, and the City Manager but last night it was suggested to eliminate the City Manager from this process as he will be in the negotiations and include whoever will be Chair of the new citizen volunteer Utility Board, someone with no professional credentials. If the Chair is Lindsey, she will be more valuable to this process than some Commissioners (see the commission ratings above that will pin-point what I am talking about here) who know absolutely nothing about this. At least the commission is accountable to the residents, not a non-credentialed volunteer citizen and I appreciate Commissioner McVoy's concerns even though they will go nowhere.
The bids will be opened at Energy Advantage Consulting in Newberry, Massachusetts, the offices of the consultant, however it was mentioned that the bids don't have to be opened there and Mr. Bornstein will pursue. Thirty days from the bid openings, the redacted information will be made public.
A report was given by Burton & Associates on their audit of commercial accounts. They discovered many errors in meter reading and billing to a tune of an estimated historical impact loss of $1.3 mil. Palm Beach State College was not billed for sewer services. Most of the audits have not yet been finalized.
I don't think you meant September 2011 when you gave the Commission weightings. Varela and Jennings are listed, but neither one was on the dais at that time.
ReplyDeleteThank you. Now corrected.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly are Spot On with your points Lynn. I especially agree with your rejection of “At least the commission is accountable to the residents, not a non-credentialed volunteer citizen”. We certainly would be better off if P&Z and the CRA were filled with creditable citizens.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the $6,000,000 cost over run for the Electric Utility upgrade was finally admitted. Why no discussion of where the money will come from and how it will effect rates?
Lynn, do you think spending another 10 years is appropriate, especially with the customers who have black out areas outside of Lake Worth?
We certainly would be better off if P&Z and the CRA were filled with creditable citizens.
ReplyDeleteExplain that please. The P&Z as well as the CRA do have qualified folks on these boards...credentials and all.
Why would I second guess Becky Mattey? I know ZERO, nada, zip on this subject. What about you? Don't know anything about black-out areas.
P.S. I forgot to answer your question as to why I didn't mention the $6 mil additional cost and how to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteIn the 4th paragraph down, last sentence, I briefly mentioned it. I can't, as said again, second guess electrical engineers and Utility professionals here and would never be that presumptuous.
A few points to address the comment about "cost overrun":
ReplyDelete1. At the time of the original bond issue, it was noted (on public record) that there would need to be an additional issue to complete the system upgrade. It was estimated to be considerably more than $6M.
2. I think it's a little misleading to characterize an adjustment to an estimate for a project that was priced 5 years ago and hasn't really begun in earnest as an overrun.
3. If I'm not mistaken, some of the bond funds were used to conduct upgrades as hurricane damage was repaired. Lynn, your comment about the remaining funds makes it sound as if the money just disappeared. It did not, it was used in compliance with the covenants of the debt issue.
I did not imply nor did I suggest that money just disappeared for this project. Where did you read that?
ReplyDeleteQuite telling how Mulvehil voted in lock step with Jennings on all seven questions. Really? Not one number different.
ReplyDeleteSo? Do you have something against SMART women?
ReplyDeleteThere is something very corrupt going on here. I smell it. Too many all of a sudden are looking to sell our utility. You have to know what's going on behind the scenes? Follow the people behind the push.
ReplyDeleteDear 4:00 p.m. YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!! "OH, IF I WERE KING."
ReplyDeleteIsn't this Coakley's hand picked Electric Utility expert?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.verobeach32963.com/STORIES%202010/NOVEMBER/vb32963_Electric_Consultant_Issue33_110410.html
"But Hersey’s services were sought by Vero in November when an election coup brought Florida Power & Light to a City Council meeting, and again later in the year, when the State Attorney’s Office needed to interview her about allegations of bid rigging."
No, it was NOT Coakley's handpicked consultant. She was highly recommended in the industry. Vero chose her. Our City chose her. In fact, everyone associated with hiring a consultant that had the least bit of knowledge, chose her too. Who would have known?
ReplyDeleteINTERESTING TO SAY THE LEAST.
It appears that maybe, just maybe, FPL was playing hardball with Sue Hersey. Who knows?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.verobeach32963.com/STORIES%202010/JANUARY/vb63_StateAtty_issue1_01_01_2010.html
"The citizen also asked how and why the city negotiated an up to $50 million penalty in the OUC contract and why the city did not speak with FPL about selling the electric utility."
ReplyDeleteUmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Totally surprised that the State Attorney's office would invesitgate an anonymous complaint. Probably Brian and Glenn.
ReplyDeleteThis doesn't sound like a FP&L played hardball.
ReplyDelete"FPL staffers said that the bidding process was “uneventful” and that “all questions regarding the negotiations were channeled through Sue Hersey, the city’s hired consultant.” FPL staffers said they had several meetings with Hersey and city electric staff and that “The City of Vero Beach provided all the information and answered any questions that were asked by the FPL negotiation team.”
Arens asked FPL representatives, “Did you ever get the impression that the bidding process was arranged to provide an unfair advantage to one of the other bidders?” and recorded the FPL answer as follows:
“No. No one from the Florida Power and Light negotiating team indicated a belief that Florida Power and Light was placed in an unfair advantage.”
It really depends on who was the anonymous complainer. It was some person(s) with a lot of facts and lot of accusations. What did he have to gain? For himself? For whom? That is the question.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous complaints should not be taken. This person(s) who was allowed to file this complaint and unknown caused a lot of havoc and a lot of expense and planted a seed.
And of course FPL would deny it was placed in an unfair advantage. No surprise there.
Lots of crap happens in the corporate and the political world. It happened here.
The Commission decided between two consulting firms both of whom I knew on a personal level. Either would have been satisfactory.
ReplyDeleteMy support of Sue Hersey was centered on getting out of FMPA based on the fact that she was the only consultant in the world who had successfully extracted a city out from under FMPA control and had done so without a glitch.
Subsequent to that, I offered to liason with FPL to setup and facilitate later negotiations which could be beneficial to the city in seeking its power providers to meet base load requirements. In that event, it didn't matter who the consultant was. That's it. The city only needed another 10 megawatts (20 would be a stretch) to put base load requirements to rest... so the real focus should be on what could be negotiated with FPL since all our base load (40 - 50 MW) would be coming through FPL lines anyway. Further, if LW might operate as an official energy provider on the grid, it would be necessary to have a second tie line to qualify for that status. Again, the only way that would be possible would depend solely on FPL. Take FPL out of the picture and you have no second tie line and you have to add another 1% transmission fee to anyone else, so it only makes sense to negotiate with FPL and I already had connections to begin the process.
W.C.