VERO BEACH — Vero Beach’s nearly 34,000 electric customers will see a small decrease in electric bills as of June 1, due to a slight flattening out of power costs and revenues on target with staff projections.
The 4.2 percent decrease recommended by staff is not the result of any changes in the management of the utility or efficiencies found in the system, but the City wants to find strategies to slash rates even more over the coming months.
To that end, theCouncil agreed to consider a plan to hire a consultant or team of consultants to conduct a full review of all the charges and fees of the utility and the corresponding costs to find a way to reduce rates for the most customers.
The item was brought up by Mayor Dick Winger under old business because, he said, the small rate adjustments the City has done this year are merely chipping away at a larger problem.
“I don’t see that the 1.1 percent and the 4.2 percent would get us down to Florida Power and Light rates,” Winger said.
Customers’ bulk power cost charge will be reduced from $75 per 1,000 kilowatt hours to $69.50 per 1,000 kilowatt hours. A residential customer using 1,000 killowatts and now paying $129.43 plus taxes and fees will pay $123.93 plus taxes and fees after June 1.
After the rate reduction, Vero Electric will be 26.4 percent higher than the Florida Power and Light rate of $97.97 plus taxes and fees for the same 1,000 kilowatt hours. It is this rate disparity that, in large part, has driven the five-year effort to sell the electric utility.
“The general feeling was that the last time we looked at our rates, we had them professionally done was 2009,” Winger said, adding that he’s happy with the periodic financial analysis that Finance Director Cindy Lawson is doing, but that he’s looking to go beyond that, to find “anything we can do to lower rates.”
“I think Mrs. Lawson has done a great job. I think Mr. O’Connor has done a great job but we do need to take another look,” Winger said.
City Manager Jim O’Connor said the City’s “profile of consumption” had changed since the last rate study done in 2009. Some types of commercial usage has decreased due to the economy and downsizing, but other types of demand for electricity has increased, such as the new hotels on the beach.
All of those things would be examined, as would the City’s power purchase agreements with the Florida Municipal Power Agency and the Orlando Utilities Commission.
Vice Mayor Jay Kramer has tried to push the Council to reduce rates, offering up various ideas including shutting down the power plant to save millions per year in operational costs, payroll and benefits for the 28 full-time workers who run the plant.
That proposal and others are in the process of being analyzed by the City staff and advisory commissioner.
Upon a 5-0 vote in favor of the rate study, Power Resources Director Tom Richards and O’Connor were directed to come back to Council with a clearly defined scope of work for the study, some concrete, measurable goals and a cost estimate.
