Florida Power & Light completes purchase of Vero Beach’s electric utility
Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) recently completed the purchase of the City of Vero Beach’s electric utility and welcomed 35,000 new customers.
“We are honored that the community has chosen to become part of the FPL family, and I am thrilled to welcome the City of Vero Beach electric system customers and employees,” Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL, said. “After nearly a decade of work together, we were able to overcome every obstacle and help the city achieve its goal of reducing electricity costs. We will work hard each and every day to provide our new customers with affordable, reliable and clean energy – just as we do for all of the 5 million customers we serve across half of Florida.”
The City of Vero Beach initially requested that FPL explore a potential purchase of its electric system in 2009 to lower rates for its customers. Last fall, the Vero Beach City Council approved a $185 million agreement that allowed the city to exit its contractual obligations, pay off its existing debt and receive a cash payment. Over time, the acquisition is expected to save approximately $130 million for all FPL customers.
FPL’s typical 1,000-kilowatt residential customer bill has remained low, the utility said, about 20 percent lower than the City of Vero Beach, and about 30 percent lower than the national average. FPL’s typical bill is lower now than it was 10 years ago.
“After many years of hard work to resolve the high utility rate, I am pleased that the acquisition of the City of Vero Beach electric utility by Florida Power & Light is finally coming to fruition,” Florida Sen. Debbie Mayfield (R-17) said. “I would like to thank FPL, the Indian River County Commissioners, the Town of Indian River Shores, the current City of Vero Beach Council members and the City of Vero Beach utility ratepayers for their tireless efforts throughout this process.”
FPL is the third-largest electric utility in the United States, serving nearly 5 million customer accounts or an estimated 10 million-plus people across nearly half of the state of Florida.
