Yesterday, the Alachua County Commission unanimously passed a motion to explore the idea of promoting energy deregulation and decoupling themselves from GRU. Many years ago, the University of Florida built their own power plant, in partnership with another utility, so that they wouldn't be held captive to politicals whims of the Gainesville City Commission. That was probably the smartest thing they every did.
Update: Since that Alachua County Commission meeting, a year ago, County Commissioner, Hutch Hutchinson, has proposed giving half the county's tax revenue from the biomass to the City of Gainesville to support their efforts and to use the other half to pay the county's increased electric bills.
What about the rest of us?
What about the roads?
The absurdity continues!
Deregulation -
One piece of the discussion that has been missing about the biomass plant is deregulation. It hasn't happened, yet, in Florida, but the talking of it has been growing steadily louder for many years. Within 10 years, I believe that we will see it happen.
Under deregulation, you should be able to choose who you would like to buy power from. The utilities are linked into the grid and the electricity flows like water.
You Decide -
Under deregulation, YOU can decide which factors for purchasing electricity are more important to you. Are you motivated by cost, or are you motivated by green power? What if you could choose a little bit of both. What if you could look at all of the utilities in Florida and could determine, for yourself, that utility A was too expensive, utility B had too bad of an environmental record, but utility C had a decent renewable energy portfolio that you could afford? How empowering that would be for you!
Competing Utilities -
Now, what do you think that does for the utilities, themselves? It forces them to compete on all of those factors? With deregulation, the public will eventually get cleaner power (because they will demand it) and cheaper power (because they will demand it). The utilities that are are built to compete will get the business and make plenty of money. The utlities that aren't will have serious problems.
GRU Unprepared To Compete -
GRU will have serious problems. I am betting that deregulation happens in about 10 years. GRU has committed to 20 years of power at high rates from the feed-in-tariff program and has committed to 30 years of power at $130/MWh. We learned this week that another clean fuel, natural gas) can be locked in for 20 years for about a third less.
In order for this biomass deal to work, to begin with, GRU needed Cap and Trade legislation. That isn't happening anytime soon, if ever, so GRU (which is already $1 billion in debt) is going to start bleeding cash the minute the biomass plant starts generating. If deregulation happens in the next 10 years, then GRU can look forward to being the most expensive power provider on the state, completely incapable of competing while they have to ride out another 10 years of the feed-in-tariff program and another 20 of the biomass plant.
The commissioners in the City of Gainesville are not forward thinking people. This entire program was designed, only for the here and now, so that people like Pegeen Hanrahan and Craig Lowe could trot off to places like Copenhagen and say, "Hey, look at me!"
Mark my words: their arrogance has destroy the best asset this City of Gainesville has ever owned.
Non-Partisan and Multi-Partisan Opposition -
Craig Lowe, Susan Bottcher, Lauren Poe, Pegeen Hanrahan and the many others that support this biomass plant will have you believe that this is just the Republicans or the Tea Party making it an election issue. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Stop GREC was created by people of all political stripes that believe this deal is bad. The fact is, Democrats and Republicans have banded together in opposition, concerned about the environmental as well as economic impacts of this deal.
In recent polling, 47.6% of voters in Alachua County disagree with this biomass plant while 34.2% agree. The undecideds are 18.2%.
Those unwilling to pay higher utility bills to get this biomass plant amount to 56.9%. Those willing to pay higher rates total 35.2%.
Just among Democrats, 44.9% are willing to pay higher rates for the biomass while 43.9% aren't. Among Democrats 40.6% approve the biomass decision while 38.3% disapprove. Those differences are within the margin of error, making them a statistical tie.
Only 18.9% of independents support the biomass decision while 45.9% of independents don't approve of the decision. The rest are undecided.
Renewable energy is not a bad thing. This deal that the Gainesville City Commission made with GREC for this biomass power plant is a bad deal, and everybody seems to recognize it but the people on the Gainesville Commission that voted for it.
