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Panhandle city's overdue bill to Progress a shocker

Quincy owes the utility a hefty $1.7-million.

By ASJYLYN LODER, Times Staff Writer
Published October 16, 2007

The arrival of an electricity bill causes many an air-conditioning lover to cringe. The Panhandle city of Quincy differs only in scale: The city owes Progress Energy a whopping $1.7-million.

No, it isn't an error or a misplaced zero. In fact, about half of the city's balance is overdue to Progress Energy Florida, based in St. Petersburg.

Quincy is one of 16 wholesale customers that Progress Energy serves in Florida, explained Progress spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs. Progress sells Quincy the power, and Quincy in turn acts as the utility to its residents. It sells them power, and handles enrollment and billing and other utility services. Selling power is the city's largest source of revenue.

City Commissioner Finley Cook said he really doesn't know how this city of 8,000 or so fell so far behind.

"My opinion, based on past history, is we have slow-paying citizens who don't pay quickly themselves, and that puts us in a cash-flow situation," Cook said. He blamed past city management for putting the city in a tight financial bind, where it has had to take money out of reserves to pay overdue bills, he said.

The city's utility accounts for $27-million or so of the city's $36-million in revenue, and pays for more than $7-million of its $9.4-million general operating budget, said City Manager Bill Bogan, who has been on the job for 16 months.

"It's been like this for five years," Bogan said of the overdue bills. "It was like this when I got here."

Quincy has been a wholesale customer of Progress Energy since 1928 and purchases roughly $8-million worth of power from the utility every year, Jacobs said. In the past 12 months, the city has been charged nearly $50,000 in interest on its past-due balances.

"This is not typical," Jacobs said. "But we value the city of Quincy as a longtime customer of eight decades, and we are trying to work with them to resolve the issue."

Progress Energy said it has no plans to turn off the city's lights.

Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or (813) 225-3117.

[Last modified October 15, 2007, 22:50:17]