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Arbitrators Resolve Contract Disagreement
ORLANDO,
Fla., Oct. 12, 2005 – A panel of independent
arbitrators has resolved a contract disagreement between
the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) and the city of
Vero Beach regarding the amount of compensation FMPA pays
the city for its power generation resources.
"We believe that the arbitrators' award will bring
final closure to all outstanding issues raised by Vero Beach
about its compensation under this contract," said FMPA
General Manager and CEO Roger Fontes. “We would like
to thank the American Arbitration Association for helping
us to resolve this important matter amicably.”
“These
are challenging times for all municipal electric utilities,
as we work to cope with the impact of high fuel prices.
We welcome this opportunity to once more work closely with
the city of Vero Beach to effectively manage these challenges
for the benefit of our ratepayers.”
FMPA is a nonprofit organization that supplies all the wholesale
power needs of 15 municipal electric utilities in Florida,
including Vero Beach. Owned by the municipal utilities it
serves, FMPA provides economies of scale in power generation
and related services to support community-owned electric
utilities.
Vero Beach and several other FMPA members own and operate
power plants, which are utilized by FMPA to meet the wholesale
power needs of both their own cities and the other utilities
that receive all their power from FMPA. The cities are compensated
for the power they provide under the terms of a Capacity
and Energy Sales Contract between their city and the other
FMPA members.
Vero Beach initiated arbitration to seek more than $7 million
in additional compensation for power generated by the city
during the 2004 fiscal year. All FMPA members have the contractual
right to go through arbitration to test the correctness of
the rate-setting process and to resolve disputes among FMPA
members.
A majority of the panel of three arbitrators found that
Vero Beach is not entitled to any additional compensation.
The arbitrators also ordered that approximately $53,000 in
arbitration costs be paid entirely by Vero Beach and ordered
the city to repay approximately $19,500 of FMPA's costs associated
with the arbitration. The panel's decision also affirms that
FMPA's members have correctly implemented the Capacity and
Energy Sales Contract in the 2004 fiscal year and all other
years in which the same process was applied.
# # #
Florida
Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) is a wholesale power company
owned by 29 municipal electric utilities. FMPA provides
economies of scale in power generation and related services
to support community-owned electric utilities. The members
of FMPA serve approximately 1.8 million Floridians. FMPA’s
members include Alachua, Bartow, Bushnell, Chattahoochee,
Clewiston, Fort Meade, Fort Pierce, Gainesville, Green Cove
Springs, Havana, Homestead, Jacksonville Beach, Key West,
Kissimmee, Lake Worth, Lakeland, Leesburg, Moore Haven, Mount
Dora, New Smyrna Beach, Newberry, Ocala, Orlando, Quincy,
St. Cloud, Starke, Vero Beach, Wauchula and Williston. Additional
information is available on the Internet at www.fmpa.com.
FMPA Contact:
Mark McCain
Public Relations/Public Affairs Manager
(407) 355-7767
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