FMPA Weekly
A weekly e-newsletter for FMPA members
Sept. 6, 2011
LAST WEEK
Executive Committee Meeting
The ARP Executive Committee met last Thursday in a special-called telephonic meeting and approved a waiver of its first right of refusal to acquire Renewable Energy Credits under the Tri-Party Net Metering Agreement for limited circumstances. The waiver was for two specific customers of the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority—the Westside Baptist Church and the St. Lucie County Fire District—and authorized FMPA staff to grant potential future waivers only to not-for-profit, govement and church customers of All-Requirements Project members up to a total limit of 500 kilowatts of installed solar photovoltaic capacity. Contact: Nick Guarriello
Vero Beach Power Entitlements
FMPA received on Aug. 24 a Request for Qualifications and Intent to Purchase Vero Beach’s purchase power entitlements. The Vero Beach City Council has adopted a policy to sell its electric system to Florida Power & Light, so long as it is in the best interests of the city. In anticipation of this potential sale, the city must make arrangements for the assignment of certain contracts. Vero Beach is seeking interested, qualified parties to assume its current FMPA contracts totaling approximately 48 MW, its contract with Orlando Utilities Commission for 120 MW, or all entitlements. Interested parties must respond by Sept. 22 at 2:30 p.m. FMPA staff discussed the solicitation with the ARP Executive Committee in a special telephonic meeting last Thursday. FMPA staff will analyze the offer and report the results to the Executive Committee prior to the response deadline. Contact: Nick Guarriello
CR3 Participants’ Annual Meeting
Rich Popp, Liyuan Woeer and Jason Wolfe attended the Crystal River Unit 3 participants’ annual meeting held last Monday. Progress Energy announced that it has decided to rebuild the unit’s containment wall. CR3 has been offline since October 2009 after delamination was found during a planned outage. Repairs were made, but a second delamination occurred during final stages of tendon re-tensioning this past March. Progress reviewed several repair options and determined that rebuilding the containment wall is the best option. Progress’ target date to bring the unit back online is 2014. The preliminary cost for repairs is between $900 million and $1.3 billion.
Facility Rating Analysis
FMPA’s Joint Purchase Project issued an request” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.fmpa.com/index.php/news/request-for-proposals>request for qualifications last Friday for professional audio visual design and installation services. The selected firm will work with FMPA to assess and improve the audio visual capabilities of FMPA’s Board of Directors meeting room. Qualifications are due Sept. 27 at 3 p.m., and a final selection is currently scheduled on Oct. 18. Contact: Mark Larson
THIS WEEK
Member City Visit
Bud Boudreaux and Mark McCain travel to Moore Haven on Wednesday to meet with City Manager Frank Thomas and to Clewiston to meet with Utilities Director Kevin McCarthy, City Commissioner Julio Rodriguez and City Manager Steve McKown. On Thursday, Bud and Mark travel to Lake Worth to meet with Utilities Director Rebecca Mattey.
Joint Purchase Project
FMPA’s Joint Purchase Project meets Thursday at 10 a.m. in the Board room to discuss whether to rebid or extend the insulators award and the wire and cable award. Contact: Sharon Samuels
ARP Telephonic Rate Workshop
The ARP Executive Committee meets Thursday at 2 p.m. via conference call for the monthly All-Requirements Project rate workshop. The agenda includes: 1) an update on natural gas markets and liquidity, 2) an overview of August loads, costs and rate calculations, and 3) estimated rates for September through October. Contact: Jim Atz
All-Requirements Project August Load Statistics
The All-Requirements Project’s peak for August was 1,264 MW, which occurred Aug. 5 between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. The project’s load factor for August was 68%. Load factor is a ratio of actual energy (MWh) used during the period versus what would have been consumed if demand was at peak for the entire period. A higher load factor indicates more effective system utilization and results in lower average costs. The month’s peak was 98% of the budgeted peak, and energy was 98% of the budget. A graph showing the All-Requirements Project hourly load for August is available on the Member Portal. Contact: Jim Atz
Special Dates
Congratulations to Ann Beckwith, who celebrates 10 years with FMPA on Saturday, Sept. 10.
COMING UP
Audit and Risk Oversight Committee
FMPA’s Audit and Risk Oversight Committee meets Sept. 22 at 8 a.m. in the Board Room. FMPA Weekly listed the incorrect time in last week’s newsletter. Contact: Rich Popp
Board of Directors
FMPA’s Board of Directors will hold a special-called meeting Sept.22 at 9 a.m. in the Board room to discuss amending the St. Lucie Project fiscal 2011 budget. Contact: Nick Guarriello
ARP Executive Committee
The ARP Executive Committee meets Sept.22 in the Board room at 9:30 a.m. or immediately following the Board of Directors meeting. Contact: Nick Guarriello
Public Power Week
Public power utilities across the United States will celebrate Oct. 2 through Oct. 8 the 25th anniversary of Public Power Week, an annual opportunity for public power utilities to reach out to citizens in their communities to communicate the benefits of public power. Public power has a great story to tell, and the APPA’s” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.publicpower.org/special/index.cfm?ItemNumber=9414&navItemNumber=21076>APPA’s website for more information.
FMEA Utility Education Days
The 2011 FMEA Utility Education and Trade Show Days (UED) are scheduled for Oct. 18 at the Jupiter Beach Hotel and Oct. 19 at the Gainesville Hilton. The event brings together professionals from the energy industry for top-notch speakers and a review of the latest in utility products and services. Topics include customer service, safety and training, transmission and distribution, and lineworker skills. For more information or to register, visit ECG’s” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.ecoga.org/Calendar/Show/11/Month/2011/11/02/>ECG’s website. Contact: Mike Siefert
INDUSTRY NEWS
Vero Beach Electric System Worth Nearly Double FPL’s Purchase Offer
Consultants hired by Vero Beach reported last week that the city’s electric system is worth nearly $200 million, or approximately twice the amount Florida Power & Light (FPL) offered in April to purchase the system. GAI Consultants estimated the system’s value at $191.3 million, or $184.9 million when taking into account market conditions and transactional costs. FPL originally offered the city $100 million for its electric system. FPL said its offer would fairly compensate the city for its electric system, allow the city to pay off its current debt associated with the electric system and allow customers in Vero Beach to enjoy the same low electric rates that FPL customers currently receive while not negatively impacting FPL’s existing customers. FPL spokeswoman Jackie Anderson said company officials are reviewing GAI’s analysis and will discuss the report with the city.
FERC Request Could Delay Duke-Progress Merger
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has told Duke Energy and Progress Energy that additional information is needed before the Commission can rule on the utilities’ proposed merger. Duke and Progress submitted a merger application last April, but consumer groups and municipal power companies have raised objections, fearing that the merged company would wield too much market power. Steve Rodgers, a director of FERC’s Division of Power Regulation, wrote the utilities Aug. 22 and asked them to file additional information on price sensitivity and other issues. He specifically noted that the application will not be considered complete until Duke and Progress submit the additional information. If FERC takes its prescribed six-month review period from the time it receives complete information, that could move its final approval to early 2012. Duke and Progress had hoped to complete the merger by the end of 2011.
Electric Utilities File Fuel Charges
Florida Power & Light (FPL), Progress Energy, Gulf Power and Tampa Electric filed proposals Thursday with the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) for 2012 fuel costs. While fuel costs are expected to decline at least slightly for three of the utilities, when other proposed costs are included, bills would increase. The exception is Tampa Electric, which said a residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity would see a drop from the current $107.02 to $106.92. Progress Energy is the only utility to propose an increase in fuel costs. With its Crystal River nuclear power plant offline for repairs, Progress has needed to replace that unit’s electricity production with higher cost natural-gas fueled generation. A Progress residential customer using 1,000 kWh would see a $5.99 increase due to the costs of fuel and purchased power. Florida Power & Light is projecting that a 1,000-kWh residential bill would increase from $96.54 to $99.10 next year. FPL’s fuel costs would decrease 4 cents per 1,000 kWh, but the utility is seeking to pass along other expenses for projects, such as upgrading nuclear reactors at its St. Lucie and Turkey Point plants. The PSC will consider the proposals in the coming months before deciding how much money the utilities can collect from customers in 2012.
10-Year Site Plan Workshop
The Florida Public Service Commission will hold a workshop on Wednesday to discuss the 10-year site plans of Florida’s 11 largest electric utilities. Each plan projects the utility’s power generating needs and the general location of proposed power plant sites during the 10-year planning horizon. In addition, the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council will present the 2011 Regional Load and Resource Plan, which includes all Florida electric generating plants and details the state’s transmission needs.
FMPA Weekly is published by FMPA for employees and goveing boards of FMPA member utilities. Questions or comments about this newsletter may be directed to Ryan Dumas or Ashley Henderscheid in FMPA’s Public Relations Department.
Want more background on the names and terms used in this newsletter? Check out FMPA’s Glossary, which features some of the most frequently mentioned committees, companies, places and terms, or contact the person named in each FMPA story to lea more. (Click here for the Staff Directory.)
Have a question, comment or story idea for the newsletter? FMPA welcomes your feedback at any time. Contact: Ryan Dumas or Ashley Henderscheid
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