FMPA Weekly | Feb. 13, 2012 | Member Edition

FMPA Weekly

 


A weekly e-newsletter for FMPA members

 


Feb. 13, 2012

 


 

LAST WEEK

 


Finance Meetings

Mark Larson, Janet Davis and Kristi Knight met last Friday with Craig Dunlap, FMPA’s financial advisor, and representatives from Bank of America, PNC Bank and Wells Fargo to discuss potential bond transactions for the Stanton, Stanton II, St. Lucie and Tri-City projects. The Finance Department also met Friday with representatives from Jefferies to discuss current market conditions and potential refinancing opportunities.

 

SharePoint Implementation

Konrad Lisiewicz attended SharePoint training last week to better understand the collaboration software’s operations and functionality. FMPA selected SharePoint for document management, records retention and compliance and will begin implementing the software soon. Contact: Mark Larson

 


FPL Settlement Anniversary

This month marks the 3oth anniversary of a legal settlement that led to the formation of FMPA’s St. Lucie Project, the Agency’s first power supply project. For years, Florida cities had been seeking ownership in Florida Power & Light’s four nuclear units: two units at St. Lucie and two at Turkey Point. FPL denied the requests, so in 1974 the cities intervened in FPL’s application for a license to build St. Lucie Unit 2 and also filed an antitrust lawsuit against FPL. In 1976, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) ruled that the cities were not entitled to ownership interests in the Turkey Point units and St. Lucie Unit 1 because they were already in operation. However, the NRC upheld the cities’ right to participate in the yet to be built St. Lucie Unit 2. The antitrust lawsuit took years to resolve and in 1982, FPL and the cities reach a comprehensive settlement. Claude L’Engle, FMPA’s representative from Lake Worth during that time, said, “Many cities gave up individual gripes and claims for the good of the overall group. It was all so fragile: it could have been destroyed time and time again. It survived because we had a group of strong people with convictions. They didn’t stop, even when they lost a battle—and there were several losses—but they persevered. Read more about the formation of the St. Lucie Project as told in Sum of Our Efforts, which is available on the Member Portal.

 


 

THIS WEEK

 


Auditors at OUC

FMPA’s contract compliance auditors visit Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) this week to begin auditing fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2011 billings for Stanton, Stanton II and Indian River Units A through D. The auditors plan to be in the field for two weeks. Contact: Rich Popp

 


Fiscal 2011 Annual Report Printing
FMPA’s fiscal 2011 Annual Report is complete and being printed Tuesday. The report titled “half full will be mailed to members later this month. Contact: Mark McCain

 


Member City Visit

Bud Boudreaux meets with Orlando Utilities Commission Director of Fuels and Power Marketing Claston Sunanon on Wednesday for a member city visit.

 

Joint AROC and ARP Executive Committee Workshop

FMPA’s Audit and Risk Oversight Committee and the ARP Executive Committee will hold a joint workshop on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in the Board room to discuss options for smoothing energy rates, such as the GANT Plan and a physical natural gas purchase structure. The full agenda package is available on the Member Portal. Contact: Nick Guarriello

 


Board of Directors

FMPA’s Board of Directors will hold a special-called meeting Thursday at 9 a.m. in the Board room to discuss the approval of a proposal to extend the term of the employment agreement for FMPA’s General Manager and CEO. The full agenda package is available on the Member Portal. Contact: Nick Guarriello

 


ARP Executive Committee

The ARP Executive Committee meets Thursday in the Board room at 9:15 a.m. or immediately following the Board of Directors meeting to discuss the approval of Resolution 2012-EC1 to amend the fiscal 2012 Agency budget. The full agenda package is available on the Member Portal. Contact: Nick Guarriello

 


FMPA Goveance Committee

FMPA’s Goveance Committee meets Thursday in the Board room at 11 a.m. or immediately following the ARP Executive Committee meeting to continue its discussion on weighted voting. The full agenda package is available on the Member Portal. Contact: Nick Guarriello

 


All-Requirements Project Weekly Load Statistics

The weekly update of the All-Requirements Project historical load graph is posted on the Member Portal later. The graph is updated through Feb. 13. Contact: Jim Atz

 


Special Dates

Congratulations to Dan O’Hagan, who celebrates seven years with FMPA on Tuesday, Feb. 14.

 


 

COMING UP

 


CR3 Participants’ Meeting

Progress Energy officials will meet with Crystal River Unit 3 participants on March 2 at 10 a.m. in the Crystal River Plant Training Center to provide an update on the repair status of CR3 and to discuss Progress Energy’s proposed settlement agreement filed with the Florida Public Service Commission. Each participant is limited to two attendees due to meeting space limitations.

 

High Bill Complaint Training and Roundtable

FMPA hosts a High Bill Complaint Training and Roundtable on March 8 at 10 a.m. in the Board room. Florida Municipal Electric Association’s (FMEA) Cheryl Anderson will discuss the types of high bill complaints, how to interact with angry customers, high bill best practices and complaint prevention strategies. Customer service representatives, call center representatives, collection specialists and counter clerks are encouraged to attend. The registration deadline is March 1. Visit IEEE’s” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.ieeet-d.org/>IEEE’s website for more information. Contact: Chris Gowder



 

INDUSTRY NEWS

 


NRC Licenses First New Nuclear Reactors in More than 30 Years

Regulators approved plans to build the first new nuclear power plant in the U.S. in more than 30 years last Thursday, despite objections of Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who cited safety conces stemming from Japan’s 2011 Fukushima disaster. The reactors are being built at the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia by a group of utilities led by Southe Company. Jaczko, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said the new licenses don’t go far enough in requiring the builders to incorporate lessons leaed from the Japanese nuclear disaster. Supporters of nuclear power saw Jaczko’s dissent as another sign of dysfunction at the top of the NRC, where in-fighting among members has been the subject of Congressional hearings. The new plant will use AP1000 reactors built by Westinghouse Electric. The first reactor is expected to come online in 2016 and the second one in 2017. Together, they are expected to cost $14 billion and provide 2,200 MW of power. Interest in building new nuclear plants had risen in the past several years when natural gas prices were soaring and experts thought the U.S. Congress would begin to place limits on emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Between the fall of 2007 and the summer of 2009, 13 companies applied for construction and operating licenses to build 25 new reactors, including units of Southe, Scana Corp, Exelon, Duke Energy, NRG Energy, Progress Energy, Dominion Resources, NextEra Energy and Energy Future Holdings. But the case for widespread U.S. nuclear plant construction has eroded due to abundant natural gas supplies, slow electricity demand growth in a weak U.S. economy, lack of financing and uncertainty following the Fukushima disaster. Nuclear industry officials now say they expect just five new reactors to enter service by 2020, including Southe’s two Vogtle reactors, two at Summer in South Carolina and one at Watts Bar in Tennessee, to be built by the federally owned Tennessee Valley Authority.

 

Obama Nominates Norris to Second Term on FERC
President Obama nominated John Norris on Feb. 7 to a second term on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a term ending June 30, 2017. Norris joined the Commission in December 2009. Prior to that, he was chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and served as chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board.

 


 

 

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 Carina Miles 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 Carina Miles

 


 

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