Undergrounding: Full Stop

Underground utilities photo stock (Adobe)

A controversial $46 million proposal to bury the island’s power lines has come to a full stop with news the Florida Legislature has passed a bill that might mean Florida Power & Light will do much of the project at ratepayer’s expense. Anticipating passage, Village Council members said their project needs new review.

“It’s worth pumping the brakes,” said Mayor Mike Davey.

The bill, S. 796, was sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for signature Thursday after passing the Senate with a 39-1 vote.  Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, D-Miami, who represents Key Biscayne, was the only senator to oppose the bill. Rodriguez said it was “an anti-consumer bill under the guise of storm hardening,” adding that it was “a smokescreen to protect FPL shareholders at the expense of homeowners and municipalities.”

The bill would change the way utilities charge for undergrounding power lines. Currently, some hardening methods, such as concrete poles, are built into basic rates. Under the bill, a separate process for undergrounding would let utilities collect money from customers for specific projects, allowing more extensive undergrounding, proponents said. 

Rep. Nick Duran, D-Miami, who also represents Key Biscayne, supported the bill after seeing power interruptions from Hurricane Irma. He said the new mechanism will have the effect of more fairly spreading costs across the state, in contrast to other projects where South Florida tends to pay more than upstate communities. “I see it as a way we can be more proactive,” he said. 

In Key Biscayne, where Village Manager Andrea Agha had mapped out a detailed timetable, the notion that FPL might do much of the project itself was cause for a pullback. Council members had been planning to vote soon on spending another $250,000 for a survey and binding cost estimate. Last month, they formally indicated they intended to seek a $50 million bond for the project.

“I don’t want to spend another dollar,” said Council Member Ed London. “It’s a waste of money.”

Council Member Ignacio Segurola, the Council’s liaison to the Underground Utilities Task Force, agreed.  “It could make all our efforts moot,” he said.

While the Tallahassee legislative action has caused a pause, next steps are unclear. The Public Service Commission is charged with reviewing proposed plans and charges, which could be time-consuming. Also unknown is the fate of communications lines, which also were to be undergrounded in the proposed Village project.

The Village’s undergrounding project has split the community, with some condominium residents arguing that because their properties are already served by buried lines, they should not be taxed to pay for undergrounding single family homes. Others argue that undergrounding all power lines is a general community benefit.

A proposal to use an assessment methodology instead of general property taxes has also led to division. Council members said they still plan on setting a date to discuss the assessment methodology.

Other KB Funding Requests

In other legislative news, Rep. Duran said a bill to get $500,000 in funding for a stormwater project at the K-8 Center didn’t advance.  But a $150,000 measure to improve bicycle lane safety between the Village and Crandon Park did win approval.