Bielarski: Fact or Fiction, the latest update

Letter to the editor

Just when you thought Commissioner Eastman’s claims couldn’t get more outlandish, he’s joined by Gainesville Residents United President Bobby Mermer, both performing on the public stage as the Riddler and Joker of Gainesville Special Election politics, going on a crimes-against-facts spree in Gotham — er, I mean Gainesville. As content as kids opening their presents on Christmas morning, this undynamic duo have been merrily posting on social media, producing TikTok videos, and issuing a press release accusing the GRU Authority of attempting to “privatize” GRU, trigger mass layoffs, increase ratepayer costs, and leave utility customers with a hole in our generation fleet. As a crimes-against-facts fighter, I am driven by common decency to at least put these dastardly villains in their place and offer a helping hand to the community trying to make heads or tails of the wicked claims.    

Eastman’s Claims

1. GRU’s power plants are going to disappear upon their pending retirement date, as if they will melt like a Salvador Dali painting of clocks, and we will all be left in the darkness.
2. I have bamboozled the yes-men of the Authority and buried the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), with the ultimate goal of privatizing the utility.
3. My generation plan will cost GRU customers $2.4 billion, while the price of their plan is — well, they’re not talking about that.

Mermer’s Claims

1. I entered into a secret deal that would privatize GRU.
2. My plan will trigger mass layoffs at GRU.
3. My plan will increase customer rates.
4. My plan will permanently hand control of GRU to outside corporations.
5. I have a history of advocating for privatization.
6. My generation plan could cost $2.46 billion.

Facts:

Key Point #1: The retirement dates on GRU’s older plants aren’t based on calculations of their remaining useful life. Those dates doesn’t consider usage, maintenance, or the current conditions of the plants.  Frankly, they’re useless. An analysis of the condition of the plant’s major components is the only way to determine a plant’s remaining useful life. The process is already underway, and there is a plan going forward.      

GRU’s professional managers and crews of highly-skilled craftspeople have done a magnificent job of maintaining our aging fleet, giving GRU an opportunity to invest in a host of turbine and /or generator work that will extend the useful life of both our Deerhaven gas plant (DH1) and Deerhaven coal/gas plant (DH2), for significantly less money than building new plants. 

For example, early estimates lead us to believe that for less than $15 million, we could extend the life of DH1, our 75-megawatt power plant, while constructing a new gas-fired plant would cost over $150 million. It’s simple: when you are in debt up to $1.7 billion, you need to look for options other than borrowing more money and increasing customer bills.

Everyone who lives on a budget knows that although it might be nice to buy a new car, sometimes you just have to spend a couple of thousand dollars to fix up the old one. Our plants may be old, but they are reliable and sound.    

Key Point #2: The idea that I am not acting upon the IRP is silly. The main components of the IRP are 1) Modifications to extend the useful life of our plants may defer the requirement to construct new power plants; 2) Solar project power purchase agreements (PPAs) will be sought, particularly where battery backup is provided, where feasible; 3) Short-term and/or long-term PPAs should be in the mix of generation; and 4) Gas-fired units may be constructed where feasible. 

The fact is, my staff and I are looking at all of the above. That’s what I am paid to do. Here’s what we found: the cost of new gas-fired turbines has skyrocketed –- up over 50% since 2023. Solar is not cheap. In 2021, when I entered into the 50-megawatt solar deal with Origis, it was priced at less than $34 a megawatt hour. In 2023, Origis and GRU tried to salvage the deal by increasing the capacity to 75 megawatts and upping the price to the low $40s. In late 2024, Origis and GRU agreed to cancel the deal, only because Origis couldn’t do the deal at the price in the agreement. The final price they requested was way beyond the original price, so we agreed to part ways amicably.

There’s a point when facts overtake theory and projection, and that time is now. The 2023 IRP was a plan; it wasn’t a purchase order. It’s a tool, not the finished product.

Key Point #3: Both Bryan Eastman and Bobby Mermer inaccurately portray GRU’s work to reinforce its transmission connection to the outside world as an effort to privatize it. Either they don’t understand, or they are wantonly obfuscating the facts. Either way, they are wrong. 

Here are the facts: only the residents of Gainesville can sell GRU through a public referendum vote. Ed Bielarski can’t. The GRU Authority can’t. The City Commission can’t. End of discussion. Eastman and Mermer should be admonished for their unadulterated diversion from the truth.

Ironically, Eastman and Mermer don’t realize or understand that the IRP called for huge amounts of solar capacity (up to 475 megawatts), which could only reach into GRU customer homes with massive work on GRU’s transmission lines. Why? Because there’s not enough land in Gainesville to locate 475 megawatts of solar. Again, that’s why I’m the CEO.  

Key Point #4: Eastman and Mermer inaccurately state that my plan will cost something like $2.4 billion, while implying their plan costs… well, they don’t say. Newsflash: Their plan was previously estimated to cost $2 billion, and the market reliance plan was estimated at $2.5 billion. However, after an almost $60 million increase in gas turbine costs and higher solar costs, those ranges are no longer realistic.

As to my plan –- it was never priced. There was no retrofit for DH1. My plan is to retrofit what we have as described above, leaving no stone unturned.  

The truth is simply not Eastman and Mermer’s constant companion. I’m starting to really like the Riddler and Joker analogy.

Key Point #5: Mermer’s press release accusing me of a secret deal to authorize large-scale power purchases from Duke, triggering mass layoffs, increased rates, and loss of control to a company like Duke is beyond comprehension. That kind of false accusation only appeals to the worst among us. I can assure you that it is without any truth.

The facts are that over 50 years ago, GRU entered into an interconnection agreement with Duke’s predecessor company to allow electrons to flow between our grid and their transmission lines — dare I say, “large-scale power purchases.” That might have been under JR Kelly’s watch, but I’m not deflecting. It’s common for utilities to enter into this type of interconnection agreement to gain access to the outside world for reliability, safety, and cost reductions.  

There are times when GRU must shed power and sell it. Alternatively, there are times when GRU buys power because of its needs and because purchased power might be cheaper at that moment. It’s been going on since Mr. Kelly wore knickers. But I digress.

Early this year, Duke indicated that they would “beefing up” their transmission lines, some of which pass along GRU’s southernmost area. We were informed that as part of building that resiliency, Duke might need to move GRU’s poles at their expense. We agreed and memorialized it with an amended agreement. That’s it. Imagine my surprise when I read the Mermer press release and got calls from local news outlets who wanted an explanation.

I get it. The Vote Yes crowd has not shown it can win on the battlefield of facts and ideas, so they are choosing to invent their own facts. It’s repugnant. They’re building their case on a bed of false concepts while spending time as keyboard warriors who look for “gotcha” moments with GRU actions, particularly as the November 4^th Special Election approaches. 

It’s clear that Mermer promoted his hoax of a secret GRU-Duke deal to the local media as a sort of “October surprise.” I guess it was just too tempting to hold up a document with both GRU and Duke’s names on it and call it a betrayal instead of trying to understand the agreement itself.

Mermer doubled down and declared I had a history of advocating for privatization, trying to mischaracterize my 2020 efforts to get FPL to pay for a $125 million upgrade to our interconnection at our Hampton Station as a deal with the devil (FPL). 

Sadly, he didn’t even know that if GRU could have gotten the deal done, it would have been the opposite of privatization. That deal would have allowed GRU more access to power from anyone transmitting through FPL’s transmission lines. Alas…   

He didn’t stop there. He accused me of “killing a clean energy solar farm” (the Origis 75-megawatt PPA). As I stated before, the termination of the Origis PPA was mutual because Origis couldn’t provide power at the price we agreed on, and we weren’t willing to pay more and put it on the backs of our customers.  

It’s as though Eastman and Mermer are unable to operate a calculator. It’s not complicated: the CEO of this utility can’t ignore the costs it incurs because those costs ultimately are passed on to our customers, some of whom struggle with the size of the bills they already receive.

Summary

In my opinion, what Commissioner Eastman and President Mermer are doing is dangerous. In a free society, institutions must be bastions of truth, not disinformation, and voters can only make good decisions when they have access to factual information. When I moved to Gainesville back in 2015, frankly, I expected more. I thought the institutions would contain more thought leaders, not truth deniers. After a decade in this town, that expectation has been unfulfilled. It’s time for people who stand for the truth to step up and say enough is enough.  

Under the governance of the GRU Authority, GRU isn’t terrorizing or disadvantaging the community. It’s bringing electric bills down closer to the average for the state, and our basket of all services is in the lower quarter of the region. We are building reliable infrastructure for future generations. Frankly, we are making housing more affordable by keeping electric rates flat and protecting residents from the rate increases that would have been imposed under a 2021 City Commission resolution that runs through 2027. We are paying down debt so that our interest rates will fall, and experts at the Bond Rating agencies agree with our plan.  

Love me or hate me, I have spoken the truth, a truth that Commissioner Eastman and President Mermer can not disprove. I stand on my record and the record of the GRU Authority.  

GRU CEO Ed Bielarski, Gainesville

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