News Releases

Florida Cities Celebrate Power Supply Independence
Cities also extend partnership concept to save $15 million in 2006

ORLANDO, Fla., April 30, 2007 – Twenty-one years ago, Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) began serving the wholesale power needs of several Florida cities, enabling municipal utilities of all sizes to become owners—not just customers—of a large, efficient statewide power system.

Since beginning operation on May 1, 1986, this program, known as the All-Requirements Power Supply Project, has given Florida’s municipal electric utilities control over their wholesale power supply. This independence has also produced lower power costs, a more efficient system and strategic strength in numbers.

The All-Requirements Project was originally founded to serve five cities with a peak demand of 325 megawatts, but its early success attracted many new members. Today, the All-Requirements Project is a 1,500 megawatt system serving 15 cities throughout Florida, from the Panhandle to Key West. Those cities include Bushnell, Clewiston, Fort Meade, Fort Pierce, Green Cove Springs, Havana, Jacksonville Beach, Key West, Kissimmee, Lake Worth, Leesburg, Newberry, Ocala, Starke and Vero Beach. Together, they make FMPA one of the 25 largest municipal utility systems in the United States.

“FMPA’s All-Requirements Project has for more than two decades played an active and important role in protecting the interests of municipal utilities and their customers statewide,” said Roger Fontes, FMPA general manager and CEO.

In more recent years, the All-Requirements Project owners have extended the teamwork concept to an even greater level, partnering with two of Florida’s largest municipal utilities, Orlando Utilities Commission and Lakeland Electric to form the Florida Municipal Power Pool (the Pool).

The Pool functions much like a car pool, where people combine their resources to efficiently meet a shared need. Like sharing a ride to work, the utilities share their fleet of power plants, transmission lines and fuel supply to reliably and economically produce electricity.

The benefits of this shared operation are similar to the benefits of a car pool: 1) reducing costs, 2) maximizing efficiency, and 3) maintaining system reliability.

Those benefits translate to major cost savings for consumers. In 2006, owners of FMPA’s All-Requirements Project saved $15 million by participating in the pool.

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Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) is a wholesale power company owned by 30 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 1.9 million Floridians. FMPA’s members include Alachua, Bartow, Blountstown, 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
Assistant General Manager,
Public Relations and Human Resources
(407) 355-7767