VERO BEACH — The Vero Beach Finance Commission on Wednesday will review a 1.1 percent rate decrease recommended by staff for the city’s 34,000 electric customers beginning this month.
The city increased rates 1.9 percent on Oct. 1 based upon higher than estimated fuel costs and lagging revenues, which left the electric utility with a gap of nearly $1 million in its budget.
Since then, city staff has adopted more conservative fuel cost assumptions and revenue has also picked up, allowing for a partial retraction of that rate increase.
The decrease has yet to go before the city council, but the staff historically has been given management authority over electric rates unless the council specifically objects.
Customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours and now paying $130.93 should expect to see a decrease of about $1.50 on bills hitting in February. Larger consumers of electric would see a slightly greater difference in their bills, but still less than $4 for a household using 2,500 kilowatt hours.
With the decrease, combined with an increase in the Florida Power and Light fuel adjustment that went into effect on Jan. 1, Vero’s rates would be roughly 33 percent higher than FPL customers in other parts of Indian River County pay for the same power.
Factoring in the proposed decrease, Vero Beach still sits squarely in the most expensive fifth of Florida’s 39 electric utilities, with only a handful of providers charging more, one of them being Key West with its high transmission cost due to the geography of the Florida Straits.
The finance commission meets at 2 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers at Vero Beach City Hall. Also on the agenda is the selection of a new chair and vice chair and an annual report of the board’s accomplishments in 2013.
