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Town of Indian River Shores – City of Vero Beach – Indian River County <br />Electric Utilities Mediation Page 3 <br />May 1, 2015 <br />Attorney Wright pointed out if the City accepted the OUC offer and dependent upon the rate <br />study, the City may be able to lower their power supply costs by $6.50 to $7 per 1000 kilowatts <br />hours, if the sales and the price of natural gas remain static, pricing assumptions improve, and <br />there were no unexpected costs in other aspects of the electric utility systems operation. <br /> <br />Attorney Wright added the City may be able to reduce the power supply costs by an additional <br />$1.50 to $2 per 1000 kilowatt hours of costs by going to the market, subject to the caveats <br />described. He said another option would be to finance the capital expenditures for the next two <br />to three years, over a ten to fifteen year period, that would significantly delay the rate impact for <br />the next three years. He explained in the year 2019, there would be a significant reduction in <br />cost for the FMPA’s Stanton Unit 1 Project, because the debt would roll off. He said the City <br />was the largest participant in the project and the debt would change over to the City in the <br />amount of $2.6 million a year when it rolls off. <br /> <br />Indian River County <br /> <br />County Attorney Dylan Reingold advised after the mediation held on December 17, 2014, the <br />City filed a petition with the Public Service Commission (PSC). On February 3, 2015, the PSC <br />ruled in favor for granting the declaratory statement for the City and declined one for the County. <br />Since then, the County has filed a notice of appeal with the Florida Supreme Court and the <br />proposed briefing schedule for both parties begins around the first week of June. At that time, <br />the County plans on filing their brief and the Florida Association of County Attorneys decided to <br />file an amicus brief in the support of the County. <br /> <br />The Town of Indian River Shores <br /> <br />The Town’s Legal Counsel Bruce May expressed the Town’s frustration that they had not heard <br />back from the City on some quantification as to what kind of rate relief they could expect. He <br />recalled from the December 17, 2014 Mediation Meeting, the Town believes the optimal solution <br />was for the City to sell its entire electric system to FPL; however, it was apparent that the FMPA <br />had no intentions of allowing the City to sell its entire system. However, Attorney May <br />explained the contractual provision that gives FMPA veto authority on the City’s ability to sell <br />their electric system, found in Section 28(c) of the requirements, stating, “the project participant <br />“the City” agrees that it will not sell, lease, abandon or otherwise dispose of all or substantially <br />all of its electric or integrated utility system without the FMPA’s consent”. He called attention <br />to the fact that FMPA’s consent was not required for the City to sell a small portion of its sys tem <br />in the Town. Attorney May revealed that the Town wanted to propose to the City, a partial sale <br />to FPL. <br /> <br />Attorney May touched on the City’s concerns regarding the partial sale to FPL. He identified <br />three basic concerns: 1) the City views itself in litigation with the Town and the County; 2) the <br />City has a substation within the Town that serves as a backbone for the City’s overall distribution <br />system; and 3) there were stranded costs. <br /> <br />A discussion ensued on stranded costs and Attorney May referred to the South Daytona and <br />Winter Park electric utility's acquisitions.