ORLANDO — The Florida Municipal Power Agency Wednesday morning voted unanimously to approve four resolutions needed fir Vero Beach to exit the statewide power co-op.
Vero must exit FPMA in order to sell its electric utility to Florida Power and Light for $185 million cash. In exchange for allowing Vero an out from its long-term contracts, the FMPA will receive $108 million from the sale proceeds.
The formal exit would become effective at the closing of the sale, which is expected on or before Oct. 1.
Three votes to assign Vero’s virtual ownership share in the Stanton 1, Stanton 2 and St. Lucie Nuclear power plants, plus one general release from the organization, were tabled by the Board of Directors last Thursday to give the FMPA’s 31 members more time to review the documents.
The Executive Committee also unanimously approved Vero’s exit in a meeting immediately following the board.
Officials not only from Vero, but from FPL and Indian River County were on the telephonic meeting conference call and expressed their appreciation to FMPA leaders and staff.
Vero Councilwoman Laura Moss, who presided as mayor during the bulk of the negotiations leading up to the unanimous decision said she was “almost speechless” at the historic vote. “This is truly unprecedented in the history of the agency,” she said. “Thank you on behalf of the City of Vero Beach.”
The Vero Beach City Council is set to meet on April 17 to review the status of all the approvals needed to close the deal.
