FMPA Weekly
A weekly e-newsletter for FMPA members
Feb. 27, 2012
LAST WEEK
34 Years of Working Together
Thirty-four years ago, Florida’s municipal electric utilities held the first meeting of FMPA and began the joint-action jouey of coordinating wholesale power supply needs. Since Feb. 24, 1978, FMPA’s members have worked together for the mutual benefit of their customers, and along the way they passed major milestones, including: 1) winning the right to own nuclear generation, 2) enabling utilities of all sizes to become owners, not just renters, of power generation, 3) opening transmission access for all municipal electric utilities, and 4) helping municipal electric utilities stay competitive by providing cost-effective power supply resources and related services. More information about FMPA’s history can be found in FMEA’s” rel=”nofollow”>http://publicpower.com/handling-high-bill-inquires-training-and-roundtable/>FMEA’s website to register. Contact: Mike Siefert
Joint Purchase Project
FMPA’s Joint Purchase Project meets March 8 at 9:30 a.m. to discuss bids for: 1) concrete pole purchase and delivery, 2) transformer painting and inspection, and 3) refurbish, repair and disposal of transformers. Contact: Sharon Samuels
INDUSTRY NEWS
PSC Approves Progress Rate Settlement Agreement
The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) last Wednesday unanimously approved Progress Energy’s rate settlement agreement with the Office of Public Counsel and other interveners. The agreement: 1) provides a $288 million customer refund of replacement power costs associated with the Crystal River Unit 3 outage, 2) removes CR3 costs from the base rate until Progress decides on an option for the plant, 3) limits customer costs through 2017 for the proposed Levy County nuclear project, and 4) provides for a base rate increase of $150 million in January 2013. The agreement is effective in January 2013. When all agreement provisions are calculated, a residential customer using 1,000 kWh per month will see their bill increase $4.93, from $123.19 to $128.12.
NERC Withdraws Compliance Notice on Sabotage Standard
In response to appeals by the American Public Power Association and other major electric trade associations, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) withdrew a Compliance Application Notice on utilities’ obligation to report potential sabotage. NERC CEO Gerry Cauley remanded the notice to NERC staff for further work or withdrawal and said compliance enforcement authorities should not use the notice as guidance until it is revised. The notice erred in saying that the meaning of “facility in the standard “was intentionally broad and inclusive beyond the scope of Bulk Electric System Facilities, Cauley said. However, he rejected the associations’ position that NERC’s authority is limited to setting requirements for bulk electric system facilities, noting that there are reliability standards that are not limited to physical assets, such as requirements for adequate communications and training. The original intent of the standard was responding to sabotage events that pose threats to the bulk power system. Cauley said, “The purpose statement in the standard would suggest a broader purpose of making operating personnel aware of sabotage events in general and also informing govement agencies of possible sabotage, he said. “It is unreasonable to expect that entities will be forced to collect a burdensome amount of data and excessively report disturbances and unusual occurrences, Cauley said.
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
Florida Municipal Power Agency
8553 Commodity Circle
Orlando, FL 32819-9002
Tel 407 355-7767
Fax 407 355-5794
http://www.fmpa.com;
Community Power. Statewide Strength. ®