The Lake Worth Selection Committee, consisting of all five commissioners, Chair of the EUAB Lisa Maxwell and Steve Carr, Finance Director, met last night to narrow down the energy supplier bidders to a short list.
There was much political rhetoric from Lisa Maxwell on selling our utility. A few of their friends of like mind were in the chamber. She asked why it wasn't in the RFP originally. The mayor jumped on the bandwagon being accusatory of a former commission for its failure to have a sale included in the original RFP. The mayor said that we were comparing apples to oranges--using that fruity line again. Sue Hersey, the energy expert said, no, "You are comparing apples to apples.
The only thing Lake Worth was considering was to find a new energy provider, not the sale of the electric utility. This must be accomplished and finalized by the end of 2013. "Selling the utility is a separate and different undertaking," Ms. Hersey said. There is a small and vocal lobby within the city to sell our Utility. As Commission McVoy has said, reducing a very complex issue to the usual campaign rallying cry is not in the best interest of the city.
In spite of all the political talk about an option to sell our utility and the bogus complaint of it not being included in the RFP, the Commission narrowed down its choice (based on cost) to the following:
Wartsila and Burns & McDonnell as top choice
Florida Power and Light came in second
Orlando Utilities Commission was in third place,
A motion was made to begin negotiations with the top three.
12 comments:
So basically are choices are:
CBM--keep running our own Electric utility with another significant capital investment in power generation
FP&L--probably the biggest rate reduction
OUC--turn over our Electric Utility to another municipality.
I'm with Harry's Bar.
I doubt that new generation can be brought on line prior to the deadline. Therefore, two of the three top candidates will have to be chosen and negotiated with if Wartsila & Burns & McDonnell is chosen.
...and will another consultant be paid big $$$ to do what should have been done in the first place?
We still don't know what we pay per KWH coming in and going out, so tell me again how we will SAVE money on our rates?
Wait until you hear the cost Wartsila
and Burns & McDonnell proposals.We will not only be joining Harry's Bar
we will be marching on City Hall.
I know--every lousy commission has taken the easy way out:
got rid of our police to County
got rid of our fire to County
Tried like hell to get us out of the water business and burn $15 million and go to the County.
Tried to do away with our library and go with the County library
Are still trying to close our pool
Lost control of our beach for 30 years
Screwed around with the casino trying to get it moved or never re-built.
Now why do you suppose that people want to give away our city like this?
My experience since buying property in Lake Worth is that anything City Goverment/Administration touches, turns brown.
Anonymous at 10:21. We wouldn't be turning over our electric utility plant to Orlando or to FPL--only purchasing power. Wartsila would be building generators so that we could be self-sufficient...We would still have to purchase power.
"Wartsila would be building generators so that we could be self-sufficient...We would still have to purchase power."
Please explain how the costs to replace our generators while still purchasing power from outside suppliers will make us "self-sufficient".
Additionally, why would we only consider ONE bid for the work? Wartsila was the only company asked, and their bid details are open ended. Give us ALL the information, the ACTUAL costs and let the rate payers decide.
Wartsilla was not the only company that was asked to respond to our energy needs. It was the only company who came in with an interest to do this sort of work. It should be scrutinized with a fine tooth comb.
It would take a lot of time to get our utility built--2 or 3 years--and ready to generate all of our own power and we would have to have an energy provider in the meantime. We don't have the necessary generation at this moment.
Hey, ask the EUAB Chair--. Our site is worth a lot! Our generation assets are paid for. Sue Hersey probably laid this all out to the Select Committee. But we need to know.
LW only needs 10 to 20 megawatts of base power. This is not a huge thing here.
A flag is up because of Vero Beach.
Work a deal with FPL as the energy provider and get a second tie-line as part of the deal. We're looking to buy more power. We might be willing to negotiate--we are looking for a 2nd tie-line and they get to put a generator on our site. We then get a cut of the proceeds.
Selling our Utility is a political vehicle...common sense is missing when people are talking about selling our Utility because we are negotiating millions of dollars of potential benefit to the community in finding an energy provider.
Lynn, Would you not like to have all the answers.
I would like to know if Wartilla was the cheapest generation and the most reliable.
I would like to know what we could receive from selling. I would like to know what we could get in franchise fees,I would like to know everything, before 5 elected persons
commit us to hundreds of millions of
dollars.
Yes, I would like to have the answers and find it utterly ridiculous that we can't get them...that we have to rely on 5 commissioners to decide for us and then they negotiate. It seems to be a Sunshine violation to me even though Hersey says it is State law. Hopefully Sue Hersey is doing her job and will advise correctly. But who knows? Whatever we would get for selling it would not be what it is worth. It's worth a lot more to us in so many ways.
I heard that Wartsila by building another generator, etc. came out the cheapest.
Sue Hersey told the Selection Committee to be "very cautious in testing the waters" regarding a sale. Sometimes people, we need to listen to the experts.
Scott Maxwell likes to hide behind the mayor's skirts and claim no connect to previous commission decisions but he needs to owe up to the fact that he was on the commission that got us into this mess.
Not the previous commission that he holds a grudge against but the commission who voted to get us in to the highest cost utility.
Post a Comment