FMPA Weekly
A weekly e-newsletter for FMPA members
April 24, 2017
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LAST WEEK
Bartow Bid
FMPA’s full-requirements bid was shortlisted last week by Bartow for the city’s Invitation to Negotiate Power Supply procurement. Bidding in the wholesale market is one of FMPA’s strategic priorities to reduce the All-Requirements Project’s rates by selling excess generating capacity to other municipals. Bartow received 51 bids from 24 different companies. Contact: Frank Gaffney
Vero Beach
Vero Beach City Council scheduled a special meeting May 9 to discuss the proposed sale of its municipal electric utility. The city is expecting a purchase offer in early May from Florida Power & Light. FMPA will have representatives at the meeting, including Jacob Williams.
Board of Directors
FMPA’s Board of Directors met last Thursday and approved: 1) St. Lucie Project swap diversification exception, 2) revisions to the General Manager and CEO and General Counsel evaluation process, 3) written six-month evaluation of the General Manager and CEO, 4) contribution to a promotional item for the APPA National Conference, 5) piggyback provision guidelines for the procurement policy, 6) revised mission, vision and values, and 7) appointment of a Nominating Committee. Pulled from the agenda was a lease agreement for an Agency vehicle because the lease company determined formal Board approval was not necessary for financing. The full agenda package is available on the Portal. Contact: Jacob Williams
Mission, Vision and Values
FMPA’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee approved updated mission, vision and values last Thursday. The vision remains the same for both goveing boards. The mission was updated to incorporate the concept of FMPA’s members as “owner-customers. It now states: “To provide competitively priced, reliable power and value-added services for FMPA’s owner-customers through joint action. The concept of owner-customers also was added to the values, along with a new value related to safety that states: “A culture that values our employees’ and operating agents’ safety. The updated mission, vision and values can be found on FMPA.com. Contact: Jacob Williams
Nominating Committee
The Board of Directors appointed three members to the Nominating Committee last Thursday for the purpose of recommending a slate of officers for 2017-2018. The Board re-appointed Howard McKinnon from the Town of Havana, Charles Revell from Mount Dora and Patrick Foster from Leesburg. In accordance with the Agency’s By-Laws, the Nominating Committee is composed of three directors: one representing small utilities, one representing medium-sized utilities and one representing large utilities based on electric sales. Contact: Jacob Williams
Load Attraction Incentive Rate
The Executive Committee approved the use of a new Load Attraction Incentive Rate (LAIR) last Thursday for a situation in Bushnell where the city is considering an opportunity to expand its service territory. The Executive Committee will continue its discussion of LAIR for other cities and situations at its meeting in May. Contact: Jason Wolfe
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee met last Thursday and approved: 1) revised mission, vision and values, 2) Conservation Program renewal and funding level for fiscal 2018, 3) revisions to the asset management and operations risk policy, 4) revisions to the fuel portfolio management risk policy, previously known as the natural gas and fuel oil risk policy, and 5) piggyback provision guidelines for the procurement policy. The full agenda package is available on the Portal. Contact: Jacob Williams
Florida Lineman Competition
Electric utility lineworkers from Gainesville and Tallahassee took home top honors at the Florida Lineman Competition held last Friday and Saturday in Lakeland. Judges selected Mike Morgan from Gainesville Regional Utilities as the top apprentice, and the winning joueyman team from City of Tallahassee Utility included Terry Cobb, Nick Ellis and Jason Smith. FMPA sponsored the competition’s top prize money again this year. The winning apprentice will receive $750 from FMPA toward travel expenses to participate in a national competition, and the top joueyman team will receive $3,000 from FMPA to pay travel costs to a national competition. Contact: Sharon Smeenk
Temporary Housing Services
FMPA received three bids last Tuesday in response to a request for proposal for temporary housing services. The Member Services team will review the response in the coming weeks. Contact: Sharon Smeenk
Public Relations Award
FMPA’s Public Relations Department won an award last Thursday from the Florida Public Relations Association’s Orlando Area Chapter in its annual Image Awards. The award was presented in the “printed tools of PR category for FMPA’s news release, “FMPA Provides Option to Help Vero Beach Exit FMPA Projects. FMPA received the Judges’ Award, which is presented to an outstanding entry that achieved maximum results for a minimum amount of money. Contact: Mark McCain
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THIS WEEK
Member City Visits
Jacob Williams travels to St. Cloud on Monday for a member city visit. This meeting marks the completion of a commitment he made last September to meet with all 31 of FMPA’s member cities. Jacob plans to continue his city visits beginning Tuesday when he and Mark McCain travel to Clewiston and Fort Pierce.
Engineering Services RFP
Proposals are due Tuesday at 10 a.m. in response to FMPA’s Request for Proposal (RFP) for Engineering Services. FMPA is seeking firms that would be designated FMPA’s consulting engineer of record, as well as firms interested in providing engineering services described in the RFQ. The RFQ is available for download on FMPA.com. Contact: Michele Jackson
NNOG Conference
Steve Ruppeltravels to Phoenix on Wednesday to attend the Nuclear Non-operating Owners Group’s (NNOG) annual conference. NNOG provides opportunities to lea about the commercial nuclear power industry and the challenges facing non-operating owners.
Business Planning and Budget Committee
FMPA’s Business Planning and Budget Committee meets Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in the Board room for its first review of the Agency’s proposed fiscal 2018 budget and a discussion of topics fundamental to the development of the All-Requirements Project’s fiscal 2018 budget. The full agenda package is available on the Portal. Contact: Mark Larson
Board Room Carpet
The carpet in FMPA’s Board room will be removed Thursday night. During the day on Friday and the following Monday, an under-carpet power supply system will be installed to eliminate the obtrusive electric cords and power strips in the middle of the room. The new carpet will be installed May 1 and May 2 in the evenings. Contact: Sharon Smeenk
All-Requirements Project Weekly Load Statistics
The weekly update of the All-Requirements Project historical load graph has been posted on the Portal. The graph is updated through April 23. Contact: Jim Arntz
Special Dates
Congratulations to Juan Bailey, who celebrates nine years with FMPA on Friday, April 28.
Congratulations to Rich Popp, who celebrates 15 years with FMPA on Saturday, April 29.
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COMING UP
Energy Auditors Roundtable
FMPA’s semi-annual Energy Auditors Roundtable is scheduled for May 18 at 10 a.m. in the offices of Kissimmee Utility Authority. The roundtable provides a forum to discuss work procedures and policies, industry changes, equipment and other topics of interest. Registration is free, and lunch will be provided. Contact: Sharon Smeenk
APPA National Conference
The American Public Power Association’s (APPA) National Conference and Public Power Expo will be held June 16-21 at the Orlando World Center Marriott. This is a great opportunity for Florida’s public power community to attend a national conference without having to travel out of state. One of the keynote speakers is Nina Easton from Fortune magazine. She will speak about political issues affecting influencers in Washington, D.C. Registration and other conference details are available on APPA’s website.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Florida Alliance Wins Federal Grant for Solar and Storage Technology
The Florida Municipal Electric Association, Nhu Energy and the Florida Energy Office were awarded a $1.75 million grant last week from the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative. The grant will pay for a three-year project that will include solar energy and power systems studies to develop strategies for expanding solar energy, energy storage and other distributed energy resources. Florida utilities, including FMPA, Gainesville Regional Utilities, JEA, Lakeland Electric, Orlando Utilities Commission and Tallahassee, will participate by providing data or piloting new ideas that emerge from the project.
Florida Senate Approves Pollution Notification Bill
The Florida Senate approved a bill last Tuesday that would mandate the notification of pollution incidents to Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The bill would require owners and operators of facilities responsible for pollution to submit reports to DEP within 24 hours of an incident. The department, in tu, would be required to post the information online within 24 hours and create a subscription system for people to receive the notices. A companion bill in the House has not been heard. However, Rep. Raschein (R-Key Largo) filed an amendment last week to HB 753, which is a bill related to contaminated site cleanup, that requires DEP to post notices of unauthorized discharges on a publicly accessible website within 24 hour. The scope of this amendment is more limited than either the House or Senate pollution notification bills. HB 753 passed its final committee of reference last week.
NextEra Still Interested in Acquiring Texas Utility
NextEra Energy Inc., the parent company of Florida Power & Light, told a bankruptcy judge last week that it is still interested in acquiring Texas-based Oncor Electric Delivery, even though NextEra’s proposal was rejected by state utility regulators. Oncor’s parent company, Energy Future Intermediate Holdings, is currently in bankruptcy. The Texas Public Service Commission blocked NextEra’s proposed $18.4 billion acquisition of Oncor saying that it was not in the public interest. NextEra had rejected a proposal that would have allowed Oncor to retain a fully independent Board. Oncor is the sixth largest utility in the United States, serving more than 10 million customers.
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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 Jeff Grainger or Sean Murtha 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.
Have a question, comment or story idea for the newsletter? FMPA welcomes your feedback at any time. Contact: Jeff Grainger or Sean Murtha