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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 />