about florida gas utility
Background
Florida Gas Utility was created during the late 1980's when the natural gas industry had begun the process of becoming deregulated. In 1985, the Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order No. 436, which provided for interstate natural gas transmission pipelines to voluntarily separate their merchant service from their transportation service (known as unbundled service or open access). It was during the time period between Order 436, which allowed open access, and Order 636, which mandated open access, that a group of municipal utilities in Florida concluded that there were substantial savings to be achieved through administrative efficiencies of joint action acquisition and portfolio management of natural gas, sharing of transportation capacity rights, and bulk purchasing of the larger, aggregated supply requirements. The group was formalized through an interlocal agreement among the municipalities and Florida Gas Utility (FGU) was formed.
FGU is a non-profit joint action agency that provides natural gas management services to its municipal utility members. FGU is a public body corporate and politic formed by Interlocal Agreement among the member municipalities under a law in Florida called the "Florida Interlocal Cooperation Act". The law allows municipalities to do anything collectively that they can do individually. FGU is governed by the provisions of the Interlocal Agreement and Bylaws adopted by its Board of Directors.
The founding members of FGU included three municipals that owned electric generating utilities and two municipals that owned both electric generation and natural gas distribution utilities. FGU currently has twenty-four (24) members. Fifteen (15) of FGU's members have natural gas distribution systems, six (6) have electric generating utilities, two (2) have both electric generation and natural gas distribution, and one (1) is an electric joint action agency, which provides wholesale electric power to a portion of its member cities.
Organization and Management
FGU is governed by a Board of Directors made up of one representative from each of the members. The Board of Directors has the responsibility for approval of FGU's budget, adoption of bylaws, establishment of policies and the selection of officers and Executive Committee members. A seven-member Executive Committee provides general guidance to the General Manager who is the Chief Executive Officer of FGU. The seven-member executive committee is made up of the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors, two board members representing electric generating utilities, two board members representing natural gas distribution utilities, and one at-large board member. Executive Committee members and officers of FGU are elected for two-year terms.
FGU currently has 11 employees. FGU has two functional groups, the Operations Group and the Financial Services Group. The Operations Group is responsible for supply acquisition, transportation management, asset optimization, storage management, marketing of excess capacity, hedging strategies, and member services. The Financial Services Group is responsible for all back office functions, accounts payable and receivable, managing FGU's investments, contract administration, human resources, information technology, financial accounting for FGU's routine operations and special projects, administration of all long-term debt, and credit risk management for FGU.
Services
Unbundling of natural gas supply and transportation services significantly increased the complexity and workload for natural gas consumers in Florida. FGU's dedicated staff provides a wide range of services to its members including supply aggregation and management, transportation capacity planning, management and marketing of excess capacity, asset optimization, storage management, determination of natural gas requirements, balancing, regulatory intervention and representation, risk management services, operational and financial consulting services, industry information resources and legislative activity monitoring.