ORLANDO, Fla., March 16, 2009 – The Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) mourns the passing of Robert C. “Bob” Williams, a 24-year employee of the Agency, who died Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 63.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of Bob Williams,” said Interim General Manager Nicholas Guarriello. “He was FMPA’s longest serving employee. He has been a part of this Agency since its early days, and for the 19 years he served as FMPA’s Director of Engineering, he played a key role in all the Agency’s power supply operations. We will miss his experience, his knowledge and his dedication to municipal electric utilities.”
Williams was instrumental in forming FMPA’s All-Requirements Project, enabling municipal utilities of all size to become owners—not just customers—of a large, efficient statewide power system.

Williams also helped direct the Agency and its members in winning a landmark, precedent-setting decision in 1994 from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. That decision enabled FMPA to purchase network transmission service, a type of electrical transmission service that transmission owners used themselves but would not offer to other utilities. In winning this right to non-discriminatory transmission service, Williams played a major role leading FMPA’s breach of contract and antitrust lawsuit, which when settled 10 years ago this coming October, provided significant value to FMPA’s members and validated the long fight for equal-access transmission service.

Williams is survived by his wife, daughter, daughter-in-law and grandson.

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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 2 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.