Commissioner Omari Hardy said residential and commercial customers for Lake Worth Beachs city-owned utility company pay considerably higher rates than FPL customers,

LAKE WORTH BEACH Residential and commercial customers of Lake Worth Beachs city-owned utility company are acknowledged to pay more for service than those of Florida Power & Light.

How much more -- and what that difference means -- depends on who is asked.

The subject has been discussed in the past decade and it came up recently after Commissioner Omari Hardy offered a proposal that included approaching FPL to gauge its interest in buying the city utility.

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Hardys idea went nowhere. Instead, discussion of the agenda item during the July 21 city commission meeting degenerated into the petulance, acrimony and incivility that has typified the boards bi-monthly sessions since a heated verbal exchange in March between Hardly and Triolo went viral.

Commissioner Scott Maxwell criticized Hardy for pursuing the issue of shopping the utility company, saying it was "political theater at best, and self-serving. Its despicable."

Triolo, who has struggled mightily to maintain the bodys decorum at recent commission meetings, accused Hardy of threatening the jobs of city utility workers "in the middle of a global pandemic" and leveled a dig at the commissioner by offering to take a five-minute recess during the meeting so that "Commissioner Hardy can get himself together."

Hardy spent much of the meeting bickering with Triolo and Maxwell and even took a swipe at City Attorney Glen Torcivia, alleging the lawyer was "counting his votes" by siding with the majority of Triolo, Maxwell and Vice Mayor Andy Amoroso on a procedural matter.

Triolo, Maxwell and Amoroso have voted as a unified block on every agenda item brought forward by Hardy and Robinson since the March incident.

Before discussion devolved at the July 21 meeting -- and it didnt take long -- Hardy said he wanted to "start a conversation" about the city utilitys future for two reasons: the possible financial benefits of a sale and, what he said, was the utilitys inability to achieve rate parity with FPL.

Citing figures from the Florida Municipal Power Agency, a cooperative of municipally owned electric utilities that includes Lake Worth Beach, Hardy asserted that residential and commercial customers of the city utility pay more than FPL "and not by a little bit."

A chart presented by Hardy showed that Lake Worth Beach residents who used 1,000 kilowatt hours of power paid 12 percent more -- or nearly $140 annually -- than FPL patrons during a 12-month period spanning May, 2019 through April, 2020. Customers using 2,500 kilowatt hours during that time paid nearly 14 percent more than FPL charged, according to the chart, or just under $430 annually.

The percentage difference was even greater for commercial users of the city utility, Hardy said.

"The numbers are extreme," he said.

Thats untrue, according to Utility Director Ed Liberty. While Lake Worth Beach residents and business owners pay more than FPL, Liberty said, the difference is much smaller than Hardy claims.

Liberty, also citing FMPA numbers. said the gap between what city residents and FPL customers paid for 1,000-kilowatt hours was actually $4 in 2019.

That small disparity doesnt account for the $8 million -- including $4.5 to the citys general fund -- that the utility contributes to the city on an annual basis, he said.

"You cant look at this and say, Hey, I can get the same thing for $104 from FPL that I would get for $108 in Lake Worth," Liberty said. "The answer is, No you cant."

Without the utilitys contribution, Liberty said residents would have to go without some services they receive now or "you would have to raise taxes to pay for it."

Liberty, in his post since 2007, is credited on both sides of the commission divide for boosting the utilitys efficiency, reliability and reputation.

Hardy said Libertys leadership has increased the value of the utility, another reason for investigating a possible sale.

"Eds done a fantastic job making this place more profitable.but why are we not giving our residents a choice to have a lower light bill?" Hardy asked. "Given that our residents are paying higher rates, given that theres a potential to benefit from this transaction..I think its incumbent on us to at least approach FMPA and FPL to ascertain their willingness to transact with us and what we might get out of it."

In order to make a deal with FPL, Lake Worth Beach would have to extricate itself from several contracts with the FMPA, which Triolo said would be prohibitively expensive for the city.

Commissioner Herman Robinson said inquiring with FPL and FMPA was worth the effort.

"If we dont ask the question, we dont get the answer," Robinson said. "Are we afraid of an answer? Maybe thats why we dont want to ask the question."

Residents participating in the public comment portion of the July 21 meeting were split on the issue.

One resident wrote that a shift to FPL would not be "cost-effective" for the city. Another resident, who says shes been living in the city for 10 years, complained about high rates and power outages and added that "not having FPL is a deterrent that makes people not want to move here."

But if Lake Worth Beach ever considers selling its utility company and switching to FPL or another utility company, its not going to happen any time soon.

After voting down Hardys proposal in a 3-2 vote, Triolo and Amoroso backed a resolution by Maxwell "in support" of the city utility that included a provision forbidding a sale in "foreseeable future."

Hardy and Robinson voted against it.

"We have no intention at this time of entertaining any conversations [with] FPL or anybody else," Maxwell said.

jmilian@pbpost.com

@caneswatch

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Fractured Lake Worth Beach commission wont consider talking to FPL about city utility - Palm Beach Post