FMPA Weekly
A weekly e-newsletter for FMPA members
Jan. 19, 2010
LAST WEEK
Cane Island Unit 4 Owners Update
Jim Hay attended a workshop last Wednesday hosted by Zachry Holdings, Inc., which provided an update on the Cane Island Unit 4 construction project. The construction company reported that the project is progressing well and provided details for future planning.
Solar Photovoltaic Panels Inspected
Solar photovoltaic panels are now operational on the roof of the Eco-Discovery Center in Key West, Fla. The system was inspected last week by a representative from the Florida Solar Energy Center. Testing showed the solar arrays are performing as expected. Sharon Smeenk attended an operations training session for the system last Wednesday after it passed inspection. The project was created in partnership with FMPA, the Florida Eco-Discovery Center and Keys Energy Services. In addition to generating electricity, the system will help educate visitors to the Center about energy and the environment through an educational kiosk that is under development. Contact: Jim Hay
ARP Executive Committee
The ARP Executive Committee held a special called telephonic workshop last Wednesday to discuss its March meeting, Taylor Energy Center interest rate swaps and a request for proposals to supply wholesale power to the city of Bartow.
PNC Economic Summit
Kristi Knight attended PNC Bank’s Economic Summit last Wednesday in downtown Orlando. Bank representatives provided an updated economic forecast for the Central Florida area.
APPA Legislative Rally
Skye Guthrie and Mark McCain held a kick-off conference call last Wednesday with representatives from the Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) to begin planning in eaest for the annual legislative rally in Washington, D.C. The annual rally hosted by the American Public Power Association will be held Feb. 22 to Feb. 25. FMPA and FMEA are coordinating arrangements for nearly 40 people from Florida’s public power utilities who plan to attend.
Member System Visit
Nick Guarriello and Jim Atz visited Fort Pierce last Thursday for a workshop with the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority’s Board of Directors. They discussed rate forecasts and actions FMPA is taking to retu to rate competitiveness.
St. Lucie Project Refinancing
Janet Davis, Kristi Knight, Mark Larson and Ed Nunez met last Friday with FMPA’s financial advisor Craig Dunlap and a member of his staff to discuss debt structure alteatives for refinancing the St. Lucie Project’s auction-rate securities. Contact: Mark Larson
Interest Rate Swaps
The Finance Division met last week to discuss the ARP Executive Committee’s directive to terminate $700 million in interest rate swaps as they reach market value. Swaps valued at $50 million were terminated last week with a net positive cash flow to FMPA. Contact: Mark Larson
St. Lucie Unit 2 Back to Full Power
St. Lucie Unit 2 retued to full power last week after its output had been reduced to 40% in order to repair seals on condensate pumps.
CR3 Outage Update
The Crystal River Unit 3 containment delamination team is in the final phase of completing the repair plan, and preliminary repair work began last Friday. Welding on the new steam generator will be complete this week. Site managers plan to release a new outage schedule and estimated online date by the end of January. Contact: David Schumann
THIS WEEK
Emission Standards for Inteal Combustion Engines
FMPA hosts a two-hour webinar Wednesday at 2 p.m., called “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Reciprocating Inteal Combustion Engines–Proposed Rule. The webinar, which will be led by a consultant from R.W. Beck, provides a regulatory update to operators of this type of generation. Contact: Mike Siefert
Annual Report Printing
FMPA’s fiscal 2009 Annual Report is complete and will be printed later this week. The report will be bulk mailed to members in early-February. Contact: Diane Nelson
Good Guys
The Good Guys, a group of CEOs from some of the region’s largest consumer-owned electric utilities, meet Friday in FMPA’s Board room at 10:30 a.m. Contact: Sue Utley
FMPP Executive Committee
The Florida Municipal Power Pool (FMPP) Executive Committee meets Friday in the Board room at 11:30 a.m. Contact: Sue Utley
Member Portal Spotlight: Make Logging in Easier
It can be difficult to remember the multiple passwords you need to log in to your e-mail account and other Web sites. Simplify the process of logging in to FMPA’s Member Portal by keeping your session logged in or setting your browser to store your password. To keep your session logged in, check the box that says “Remember Me when you enter your useame and password on the front page of the site. You will stay logged in so the next time you visit the Member Portal, you won’t have to provide your password. Another option is to have your inteet browser remember your password for you. In Inteet Explorer or Firefox, click Tools and then Options. Under Security, check the box to remember passwords for Web sites. The next time you visit the Member Portal, your password will be automatically filled in.
All-Requirements Project Load
The weekly update of the All-Requirements Project historical load graph has been posted on the Member Portal. The graph is updated through Jan. 18. Contact: Jim Atz
Service Anniversaries
Congratulations to Hector Mesa, who celebrates two years with FMPA on Thursday, Jan. 21.
COMING UP
Member Relations FAQ: Why measure relationships?
The launch of FMPA’s 2010 Member Relations Survey is only a few weeks away. To prepare members to participate in the survey, which is a strategic plan action item, FMPA Weekly is answering some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the survey. This week’s question is, “Why does FMPA measure relationships with its members? FMPA’s reputation is an important asset that influences the Agency’s success in a number of ways. Relationships are the primary drivers of reputation, according to leading public relations scholars, so managing relationships with FMPA’s most important stakeholders is essential to maintaining a good reputation. As the old business saying goes; you can’t manage what you can’t measure. That’s why having an objective, quantitative measurement tool is essential to FMPA’s relationship management efforts. Of course, the survey is no replacement for one-on-one dialogue with our members, but it allows us to benchmark our performance objectively in a way that informal conversations cannot. Contact: Diane Nelson
ARP Executive Committee
The ARP Executive Committee will hold its March meeting in conjunction with a dedication ceremony in Key West for the solar demonstration project. The meeting will be held Friday, March 26 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Contact: Sue Utley
Solar Demonstration Center Dedication
A dedication ceremony for the solar demonstration project at the Eco-Discovery Center in Key West will be held March 26 at 11 a.m. Representatives from FMPA, Keys Energy Services and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association will speak at the event. Contact: Diane Nelson
INDUSTRY NEWS
PSC Rejects Progress Energy Rate Increase
The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) last Monday unanimously rejected a $500 million-a-year base rate increase sought by Progress Energy Florida. As part of the decision, the PSC approved a 10.5% retu on equity, instead of 11.25% recommended by PSC staff and 12.54% sought by the company. This decision and some smaller adjustments reduced the rate increase to $5.8 million. Rather than approve a small rate increase to cover that amount, the PSC voted to deduct it from the company’s nearly $700 million depreciation surplus. Monday’s vote was the first major decision for this commission, which has a new chair and two new commissioners appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist. “The decision will mean a more expensive and less reliable system for Florida customers, Progress president Vincent Dolan said. “We may see an increased cost of capital and a reluctance of investors to put capital at risk in the Florida market.
PSC Rejects FPL Rate Increase
The PSC last Wednesday rejected more than 99% of Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) request to raise base rates by $1 billion this year and all of a $247 million increase for 2011. Following the decision, FPL announced it will immediately suspend capital investment projects representing approximately $10 billion over the next five years, including the Turkey Point nuclear project, repowering two generating facilities and a proposed natural gas pipeline. The PSC approved a rate of retu for FPL of 10%, rather than 12.5% requested by the company and 10.5% recommended by PSC staff. The commission also trimmed $77 million from the staff proposal by deciding FPL should retu its entire depreciation surplus to consumers over the next four years instead of just a portion as staff had recommended. Another key decision was to suspend the collection of money from customers for a storm repair reserve fund. That reduced the staff recommendation by another $50 million. Ultimately, the PSC approved a $75 million rate increase, which is expected to add only 5 cents to the bills of residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month.
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 Skye Guthrie or Diane Nelson 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: Skye Guthrie or Diane Nelson