VERO BEACH — The City of Vero Beach has released a draft purchase agreement from Florida Power and Light offering to buy the city’s electric utility for $100 million cash, plus other consideration. The 77-page document was sent from FPL to Vero’s transactional attorneys on Friday and was forwarded to city council members by City Manager Jim O’Connor on Saturday afternoon.
The $100 million purchase price confirms the “up to $100 million cash” which was stated in FPL’s April 4 Letter of Intent to purchase the utility.
The offer proposes that the sale price would be paid to Vero by FPL in payments with interest. FPL would also lease the land under the power plant and begin paying taxes on the utility assets after the closing date.
Should it be approved by the Vero Beach City Council, upon that effective date the agreement provides for a 24-month deadline to close the deal. During that time period, Vero must settle a number of pending contracts, including the wholesale power agreement with the Orlando Utilities Commission and a cooperative power buying arrangement with the Forida Municipal Power Agency.
Should the city not be able to do this, or should FPL find out that Vero has misrepresented material facts about the system, or done something to damage the utility during those 24 months, there could be damages, and possible penalties.
As promised in the April 4 Letter of Intent from FPL, it provides for FPL to take over the utility’s generation assets, transmission system and customers and to provide employment for the utility’s 113 employees for two years.
The draft agreement contains many parenthetical notes marking areas where items still need to be determined or negotiated. It also contains a few blanks to be filled in prior to being approved by the city council, but there is no information redacted or blacked out.
Mayor Pilar Turner said she wants to make it clear that the document is a “work draft” and said she was happy to see in print that Vero customers would be charged the same rates as all the rest of FPL’s customers.
Turner said the offer will be discussed at the next regular council meeting, Feb. 7 at 9:30 a.m., when attorney Igoe will be present. A workshop would most likely be planned after that.