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(d) The provisions of the Election Code relating to notice <br /> and conduct of the election shall be followed to the extent <br /> practicable. Costs of the referendum election shall be borne <br /> by the affected municipal electric utility. <br /> (e) If a majority of the affected municipal electric <br /> utility's retail electric customers vote in favor of creating <br /> a separate electric utility authority, the affected municipal <br /> electric utility shall, no later than January 15, 2009, <br /> provide to each member of the Legislature whose district <br /> includes any portion of the electric service territory of the <br /> affected municipal electric utility a proposed charter that <br /> transfers operations of its electric, water, and sewer <br /> utility businesses to a duly-created authority, the governing <br /> board of which shall proportionally represent the number of <br /> county and city ratepayers of the electric utility. <br /> Section 37, Laws of Florida, Chapter 2008-227 . <br /> The specific Commission orders that are directly applicable to <br /> the City's right to provide retail electric service in its existing <br /> service area are the Commission's Territorial Orders identified above. <br /> Legal Issues <br /> Ultimately, the Town's and County's complaints ground in their <br /> desire for lower electric rates. For example, the Town's <br /> representatives have repeatedly stated that, if the City cannot <br /> provide service at the rates charged by FPL, the Town intends - <br /> assuming that it has the legal right and power to do so - to evict the <br /> City from the Town and thereafter to either set up its own electric <br /> utility or to choose another supplier. Similarly, the County has <br /> asked the PSC to declare that once the franchise agreement between the <br /> City and the County expires in 2017, the territorial agreements <br /> approved by the PSC will become invalid, and that there will be no <br /> limitations on the County's ability to grant another successor utility <br /> an exclusive franchise to serve where the City now provides service in <br /> the unincorporated areas of the County. Petition at 31 . The County <br /> also complains that the City's rates are higher than FPL's, Petition <br /> at 21-22, and about the City's transfer of 6 percent of its electric <br /> revenues to the City's General Fund. Petition at 21. <br /> Contrary to the Town's and County's positions, the Florida PSC <br /> has "exclusive and superior jurisdiction" over what utilities serve in <br /> what areas, and the existence, absence, or expiration of a franchise <br /> agreement is irrelevant to the PSC's jurisdiction and to the City's <br /> right and obligation to serve in its PSC-approved service area. „400„ <br /> 8 <br /> a3 <br />