My WebLink
|
Help
|
About
|
Sign Out
Home
Browse
Search
12/17/2014 (2)
CBCC
>
Meetings
>
2010's
>
2014
>
12/17/2014 (2)
Metadata
Thumbnails
Annotations
Entry Properties
Last modified
4/4/2018 3:41:12 PM
Creation date
12/20/2016 11:34:31 AM
Metadata
Fields
Template:
Meetings
Meeting Type
BCC Regular Meeting
Document Type
Agenda Packet
Meeting Date
12/17/2014
Meeting Body
Town of Indian River Shores
City of Vero Beach
Subject
Mediation Meeting Electric Utilities
There are no annotations on this page.
Document management portal powered by Laserfiche WebLink 9 © 1998-2015
Laserfiche.
All rights reserved.
/
142
PDF
Print
Pages to print
Enter page numbers and/or page ranges separated by commas. For example, 1,3,5-12.
After downloading, print the document using a PDF reader (e.g. Adobe Reader).
View images
View plain text
Carlos Alvarez, Esq. <br />December 11, 2014 <br />• Page 5 <br />"substitute" utility service from other utilities pursuant to an orderly process which the court would <br />supervise. Id. at 424-25. <br />• <br />• <br />The Territorial Agreement <br />Although the City has entered into a bi-lateral territorial agreement with FPL that currently <br />envisions that the City will provide electric service to a portion of the Town, and the PSC has <br />approved that territorial agreement pursuant to that agency's regulatory authority under Chapter <br />366, Florida Statutes, the courts have recognized that a municipality like the Town can exercise its <br />statutory rights and pursue the option of furnishing electric service to its residents at the end of a <br />franchise agreement without running afoul of existing PSC -approved territorial agreements. <br />Florida Power Corp. v. City of Casselberry, 793 So. 2d 1174, 1177 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). <br />Furthermore, the PSC has recognized that an existing territorial agreement may be modified when <br />a municipality elects to provide electricity to its residents at the end of a franchise agreement. See <br />PSC Orders Nos. PSC -05 -0453 -PAA -EI (Apr. 8, 2005) and PSC -14 -0108 -PAA -EU (Feb. 24, <br />2014). <br />Furthermore, the Florida Legislature has confirmed that "nothing" in Chapter 366, <br />including the PSC's approval of the territorial agreement, should be read to restrict the Town's <br />broad regulatory power to grant or deny public utility franchises for the use of its rights-of-way <br />and other public areas. § 366.11(2), Fla. Stat. (2014) ("Nothing herein shall restrict the police <br />power of municipalities over their streets, highways, and public places..."). In fact, in interpreting <br />the jurisdictional limitations in Section 366.11(2), Florida Statutes, the PSC has expressly ruled <br />that it has no authority to impose itself in a dispute over whether a city's franchise agreement with <br />an electric utility should be allowed to expire. See PSC Order No. 10543 (Jan. 25, 1982) (the PSC <br />"may not interpose itself in the terms and conditions of the franchise contract."). Moreover, the <br />territorial agreement itself expressly acknowledges that the service area boundaries contained <br />therein may be terminated or modified by a court of law. PSC Order No. 10382 (Nov. 3, 1981) at <br />Ex. A, Territorial Agreement, § 1.1. <br />Thus, nothing in the territorial agreement or the PSC approval thereof impedes the Town <br />from seeking to exercise its express statutory powers to furnish electricity to its inhabitants, and <br />deny the City permission to furnish electricity within the Town at the expiration of the Franchise <br />Agreement. <br />The Town's Right and Responsibility to Protect its Inhabitants <br />from Unreasonable Rates and Oppressive Utility Practices <br />The City has used its electric monopoly to force the Town and other non-resident customers <br />in the Town to pay unreasonable electric rates that have been consistently and substantially higher <br />than the electric rates paid by Town citizens receiving electric utility service from FPL. For <br />example, according to the comparative rate statistics compiled by the PSC and the Florida <br />Municipal Electric Association, the City's residential electric rates for 1000 kWh usage were <br />approximately: <br />to3 <br />
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.