ORLANDO, Fla., May 1, 2007 – Providing reliable, cost-effective power has always been the goal of the electric utility industry, and following a new request from the state’s utility regulatory board, Florida municipal electric utilities submitted reports today documenting distribution reliability data.

The Florida Public Service Commission requested all municipal electric utilities submit the data by May 1. To meet this request, 20 Florida cities worked together through the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) to collect, compile and submit the data.

The collection of distribution reliability data has been the standard among several of Florida’s municipal electric utilities for more than four years. FMPA’s Distribution Reliability Measurement Program was developed in 2003 to assist members in collecting and tracking outage information. The data is used to compare and benchmark findings among the program’s participants.

“The program provides an opportunity for participants to share knowledge and experience,” said FMPA General Manager and CEO Roger Fontes. “Exchanging information helps improve the utilities’ performance, and ultimately, achieve the goal of providing reliable, cost-effective power to customers.”

Participating cities include Bartow, Bushnell, Clewiston, Fort Pierce, Havana, Homestead, Gainesville, Jacksonville Beach, JEA, Key West, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Leesburg, New Smyrna Beach, Mount Dora, Ocala, Orlando, Quincy, Tallahassee and Vero Beach.

There are a variety of benefits to participating in FMPA’s Distribution Reliability Measurement Program. The major benefits of measuring reliability include:

• Benchmarking – Participants are able to compare reliability data with other municipal utilities and investor-owned utilities in the state.
• Identification of Best Practices – Encourages discussion and the exchange of ideas among participating utilities to determine best practices for outage tracking, outage management and response, equipment, work practices, policies and procedures.
• Information for Customers – The data can assist when responding to customer questions regarding outages.

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Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) is a wholesale power company owned by 30 municipal electric utilities. FMPA provides economies of scale in power generation and related services to support community-owned electric utilities. The members of FMPA serve approximately 1.9 million Floridians. FMPA’s members include Alachua, Bartow, Blountstown, Bushnell, Chattahoochee, Clewiston, Fort Meade, Fort Pierce, Gainesville, Green Cove Springs, Havana, Homestead, Jacksonville Beach, Key West, Kissimmee, Lake Worth, Lakeland, Leesburg, Moore Haven, Mount Dora, New Smyrna Beach, Newberry, Ocala, Orlando, Quincy, St. Cloud, Starke, Vero Beach, Wauchula and Williston. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.fmpa.com.