GRU: NOT A True Municipal Utility
February 16, 2012 by Laurie Newsom
Filed under Hot Topics, Local Info
Excerpted from an excellent letter sent to us from Mr. John Sheehy:
“While some may argue that the County is undermining a municipal utility.
GRU does not function as a municipal utility to residents outside of the
limits of the City of Gainesville. All residents outside the city’s
boundaries lack representation and direct influence of the policies of
both GRU and the City commission(italics and bold are mine). I will note that most of the problems
with GRU and its rates are the result of actions by the City Commission
and not GRU management.
Due to the lack of oversight by customers outside the City’s limits, it
functions not as a municipal utility, but rather as an IOU (Investor
Owned Utility) with the profits going into the City of Gainesville’s
general fund through a well documented transfer (bold is mine).
This is a fundamental conflict with the assertion made by some that GRU
is a true municipal utility. Were this actually the case, then all
ratepayers would be able to provide oversight to GRU’s operations,
capital investment program and the setting of rates
Furthermore, the City Commission has worked very hard over the years to
exploit the customers who live outside the city’s boundaries. You can
see this clearly in the various surcharges that they tack onto utility
bills when customers reside outside the city limits.[1] For some reason
unfathomable to me, the City of Gainesville Commission expects GRU
customers outside their legal domain to pay a 10% surcharge on electric
bills, which conveniently happens to be equivalent to the 10% utility
tax. I guess they think they deserve their pound of flesh no matter what.”
Once upon a time, GRU aired a television commercial of different people saying “I own GRU” or something to that effect promoting the image “the people” own and manage the utility. Recent behavior of the Gainesville City Commission demonstrates that the commission and not the public “own” GRU; the people did not request the extravagant temple constructed in a wetland on North Main Street or demand a biomass plant; that was the action of the city commission alone. The only way the “people” can gain legitimate ownership of the city’s utility is to elect new commissioners—–only then will we own GRU rather than GRU owning us! There is an election in which you can take ownership of GRU with your vote! Its belongs to us, not the commission. VOTE!