OUC halts coal plants study as virus pinches revenues, public dialogue
Orlando’s electric utility has indefinitely postponed a $1 million study on when to shut down its coal plants, citing plummeting revenues and an inability to communicate effectively with the public because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Orlando Utilities Commission also will put off a proposed rate hike later this year as inappropriate during rising unemployment and other economic distress brought on by
COVID-19.
“At this point, it isn’t really responsible to move forward,” OUC’s general manager, Clint Bullock, said during a commission meeting Tuesday afternoon of the coal-plant study, adding that he wants to engage the public more directly on the issue than through virtual platforms.
While playing a key role in Orlando’s finances, OUC faces a deteriorating budget led in April by a 17 percent drop in electric and water billing receipts from the utility’s 25 biggest customers, including Universal Orlando, the airport, Orange County public schools and hotel corporations, and a 32 percent drop in revenues from customers in entertainment, transportation and education sectors.
The utility’s study on the future of its Stanton Energy Center coal plants in east Orange County, as well as other aspects of OUC’s electricity supply and demand, began last year with an 18-month timeline to bring rec
ommendations by June.
The two plants, opened in 1987 and 1996 and designed with 40-year lifespans, have been targeted with criticism arising from fears over the acceleration of climate change caused by carbon pollution from plants that burn coal to produce electricity.
Orlando’s Mayor Buddy Dyer and council members adopted a goal in 2017 of eliminating the city’s reliance on coals and fossil fuels by 2050.
With two chimneys and two cooling towers of 50 stories each, the landmark plants also are the focus of a federal lawsuit alleging radioactive and toxic contamination from coal-ash dust of east Orange County neighborhoods. Claims in the lawsuit include an increased incidence of rare cancers in east Orange communities.
The coal plants generate a significant portion of electricity used by Orlando, St. Cloud and, soon, Mount Dora. The prospect of closing them has challenged OUC with determining how to make up for the lost source of electricity and revenue.
The municipally owned utility is governed separately from the city of Orlando but has funneled nearly $90 million annually in recent years to the city’s budget.
“We had plans for a rate increase on the customer charge on Oct. 1,” Bullock said. “But we recognize we can’t do that in this time.”
The commission, which includes Dyer, is planning to have a workshop for the utility’s budget in August. Bullock said he will then present a schedule for resuming the study on the future of the coal plants.
“It is unfortunate. I don’t want a delay. I don’t want to deal with COVID. I don’t want to deal with this budget pressure,” Bullock said. “This is not something we asked for.”
After the meeting, a representative of a Sierra Club initiative to defeat utility coal plants agreed with
OUC’s suspension of its study.
“We are glad OUC is delaying a process that will set the course for the next 20 years so that the public can be fully engaged,” said Sierra’s Raquel Fernandez Makarov, nothing “the impact of fossil fuels on public health and the climate and the fact that the pandemic has highlighted how closely linked air pollution is to public health.”