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The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., Lauren Ritchie column: Grubbing for greenbacks in Leesburg [The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.]
(Orlando Sentinel (FL) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 17--Leave it to Leesburg officials to buck a national trend and act like they know better.
Oh, the city is going "green," all right, just like the rest of the country -- only it's a different kind of green.
While the rest of the nation is looking for ways to promote alternative, sustainable energy, Leesburg is interested only in grubbing more greenbacks out of its utility customers and residents. And all the while, it is thumbing its nose at any serious encouragement of solar or any other alternative power source.
"That's not our area of expertise," City Commissioner David Knowles said.
He is right. The city's only area is greed.
Leesburg, as its residents are painfully aware, operates an electric utility -- one for which they pay dearly. City officials have always proudly boasted that property rates are low and yet residents are getting primo services -- due to their awesome ability to handle money.
This is fiction.
One of a kind
Leesburg's tax rate is the fourth-lowest in the county at $4.30 for every $1,000 of taxable value. That would be pretty good except the figure is bogus. The city pays for nearly half its traditional government services such as police, fire, zoning, code enforcement, parks and recreation from the profits of its utilities, mostly electric.
If it didn't have electric profits, as most cities don't, the property tax would rise to $8.30 per $1,000 of taxable value, far and away the highest in the county. In truth, residents pay that much now -- it's just hidden in their utility bills.
This sets up a scenario where the city must keep raising its electric rates. Which brings us to John Childs.
Childs, a 53-year-old business owner, lives in Fruitland Park and gets his electric from Leesburg's system. That means that he, too, has the privilege of supporting Leesburg's city government -- from which he gets not a nickel of service.
He spent about $42,000 to put a solar photovoltaic system on his roof. He is the first and only homeowner in the 22,819-customer system to go solar.
Now, that's commitment.
When he lived in Kissimmee, Childs had a solar water heater.
"I loved the idea that I could turn the power off and get hot water for a family of four," he said.
Going 'green'
Childs and his wife, Martha, do plenty of other environmentally good things, too, in their daily life. They've installed new energy-efficient windows and added insulation. He has a service recycling batteries.
"I'm doing what I philosophically believe is the right thing to do," he said.
And in the process, he's getting shafted by Leesburg.
Childs' solar system produces power that he doesn't use, so it flows into what's called "the grid," the interconnected power system that serves everyone. So, Childs is both a customer and an electric producer.
Investor-owned utilities, such as Progress Energy, sell electric to solar homeowners at the regular retail rate that everyone pays. They are required by the Florida Public Service Commission to buy it back from the solar producer at the same rate.
That makes sense. There is no cost to the power company -- it's simply electric in and out. It's a little trickle of electric on which the utility can't make a profit, but it's a step toward sustainability that encourages people to buy solar systems, which in the end may eliminate the need for building costly and environmentally nasty generation plants.
Adjust goal
Leesburg, however, doesn't care.
It sells power to Childs at the retail rate and buys it back at the wholesale rate. Leesburg absolutely needs that little dribble of profit. It can't be part of a larger, morally responsible nationwide effort to encourage solar power. No, no.
City Manager Jay Evans penned a long, very convincing e-mail about why the city can't possibly be involved in encouraging solar power.
It boils down to this: Leesburg can't make money on it. This is perfectly logical if the city's only goal is to make money.
It shouldn't be.
The city's goal ought to be to provide services to the public in the most cost-effective way. Municipalities shouldn't be competing with business if there is no other purpose than to make money. If Leesburg is going to operate a business, it should be subject to the same business rules as investor-owned utilities. Otherwise, how would private enterprise thrive?
Evans claims that city ratepayers would actually subsidize solar customers if the city paid the retail rate for solar power. Nonsense. Power in and power out at the same price is a wash. The "subsidy" only comes when the city decides it "needs" more profit and jacks up the rates.
Perhaps Evans would have a point if the other 22,818 customers decided to install solar panels, but Leesburg and every other electric provider are an absurdly long way from that.
Evans' e-mail implies that even asking why the city doesn't pay Childs the same rate it charges him is irresponsible. It's just impossible because the city has to make a profit on the power, he said.
Look at Ocala
Ocala, also a member of the Florida Municipal Power Agency, an electric consortium, somehow manages to pay its solar customers the retail rate.
And Gainesville Regional Utilities, a city-owned provider, goes far beyond that. The city, which generates its own power by coal-fired and natural-gas plants, provides $7,500 rebates for solar-panel installation. Just last week the city signed a 30-year contract with a company to build an environmentally conscious biomass plant that will burn waste from the lumber and paper industries in North Florida.
Mindless cash cows
The question here isn't money. It's a philosophical one.
Do cities that have been sucking money out of residents and other customers for years keep treating those people like mindless cash cows?
Or are they morally obligated to take a leading role in promoting sustainable energy?
You know the right answer. Too bad Leesburg doesn't.
Lauren Ritchie can be reached at lritchie@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5918. Her blog is at www.orlandosentinel.com/
laurenonlake
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