It is time for the City Commission to take concrete steps towards addressing the high electric rates the people of Tallahassee are faced with year after year.
tallahasseereports.com has researched and addressed the failure of the City Commission to deal with transmission line problems that plague our connection with Progress Energy and deprives the City of Tallahassee the ability to import and export power for our economic benefit.
Here is a possible course of action to address this problem:
Progress Energy Florida (PEF) has recently filed a petition before the Florida Public Service Commission to increase their rates so they can meet the goals that the Florida Legislature and the Governor have set forth.
These goals strive for a future where “Florida utility customers have even more reliable electric service produced by cleaner, more efficient resources, including more stable and affordable fuel prices.”
The City of Tallahassee should immediately intervene in this case and tell the Florida Public Service Commission and PEF that we want to be a part of the energy future the Governor talks about.
The City of Tallahassee should tell the PSC that for us to get to that energy future, the years of neglect that has left Tallahassee on an “energy island” must end and the PEF transmission lines should be upgraded.
Discussions with regulatory attorney’s indicate the City of Tallahassee would have the standing to address this issue in the PEF rate case. This position is supported by language in section 366.04 (5) of the Florida Statutes which details the PSC jurisdiction on these issues and reads as follows:
The commission shall further have jurisdiction over the planning, development, and maintenance of a coordinated electric power grid throughout Florida to assure an adequate and reliable source of energy for operational and emergency purposes in Florida and the avoidance of further uneconomic duplication of generation, transmission, and distribution facilities.
The City of Tallahassee has waited long enough for this issue to be handled through “back channels.” For whatever reason, we have been reluctant to engage PEF with a petition of our own.
The PEF rate case presents a golden opportunity for Mayor Marks – a former Florida Public Service Commission Chairman – and the City Commission to demonstrate leadership on this issue and have our grievance addressed by the PSC.
It Is Time For The City Of Tallahassee To Take Action On Electric Rates added by Staff on
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Practical marketing –
Answer me this… why, in August (last time the city renegotiated its natural gas rate) was it set at $10 – the going rate per unit…
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/chart/NG/W
But, now, we are all supposed to be happy that the city is only paying between $7 and $8 per unit… when the link above shows the going rate is closer to $4 per unit…
Seems like the city’s utility customers are being given the big shaft and being told to be happy about it…
So we think we can force PEF to build lines to solve “our transmission problem”. Why would they sell us lower priced power? They are keeping the inexpensive power for their own rate payers! Why would I sell to you at $40 something I can sell to someone else for $50. Market pricing is real. Buy low, sell high!
Read up on the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and it’s rules! Then you can start telling the utilities how to run their systems.
It will be a cold day in hell before John Marks does anything that will directly benefit the people that he is suppose to serve. Now if it was something that he could add to his political resume then he would be the first in line. It’s gonna take someone with the drive of Commissioner Bill Proctor to get these types of things done in this city. Mark my words all these “green” projects and just about everything else John Marks is doing is just a political game that he is playing to prepare himself for a higher level Government Position. I feel as if the steps talked about in this report can help ease some of the utility rates they we as citizens pay in the capital city of Florida.