Fort Pierce Utilities Authority (FPUA)

The Fort Pierce Utilities Authority (FPUA) is the community-owned public power utility that sells electricity, water, wastewater service, natural gas and fiber internet in Fort Pierce and the immediate surrounding area.

FPUA describes itself as a local municipal or public power utility owned by the citizens it serves, and says Fort Pierce is one of more than 2,000 United States communities with a community-owned electric utility and one of very few whose utility also provides water, wastewater, natural gas and internet service (FPUA About Us page). The authority's stated mission is to give customers economical, reliable and friendly service in a continuous effort to improve the quality of life in the community.

The authority dates to a referendum: Fort Pierce voters created FPUA in 1972 (FPUA history page), and the authority's 2026 water and wastewater rate resolutions record that the referendum election was held on May 30, 1972 (Resolution UA 2026-04). Those resolutions also cite Article XII of the Fort Pierce City Charter as the source of FPUA's power and duty to fix rates for gas, electricity, water, wastewater and other utility services (Resolution UA 2026-05). Garbage, recycling and yard waste pickup is a City of Fort Pierce Public Works service rather than an FPUA service, although the city's rate page says FPUA bills residents and businesses monthly for all trash services (City of Fort Pierce garbage and recycling rates page); the Fort Pierce utilities hub explains that split.

A five-member FPUA board governs the authority under the City Charter, while the Fort Pierce City Commission approves FPUA's rates and budget.

The City Commission names four of the five board members for overlapping four-year terms, and the Mayor holds the remaining seat (FPUA history page). The FY 2026 budget adds that board members are residents of the community who are customers of the utility, that the Mayor serves on the board as long as he or she holds that office, and that FPUA board meetings are open to the public (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget).

Each year FPUA transfers revenue to the City of Fort Pierce General Fund using a set formula, and the history page puts the total sent to the General Fund since 1972 at over 100 million dollars (FPUA history page). The budget also notes that the American Public Power Association recognizes FPUA as one of 254 utilities nationwide designated a Reliable Public Power Provider, or RP3 (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget).

The FPUA FY 2026 budget plans for 29,880 electric, 23,480 water, 17,460 wastewater, 4,260 natural gas and 633 FPUAnet customer services billed.

The table below copies the budget's own comparison of FY 2025 and FY 2026 customer services billed, with the change columns as FPUA printed them (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget, Budget Overview).

The same budget lists total budgeted FPUA revenues of $185,582,970 for FY 2026, up 15.5 percent on the amended FY 2025 figure in FPUA's schedule, with the wastewater system budgeted at $59,254,349 and the electric system at $80,644,702 (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget). Older figures still sit on the FPUA website: the history page says the Fort Pierce power plant grew to approximately 25,000 customers and that the gas department serves 4,300 customers, and it also describes a second solar farm as scheduled for 2023 (FPUA history page).

FPUA draws power through its participation in the Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) and treats drinking water at a lime softening and reverse osmosis plant on 25th Street in Fort Pierce.

Through FMPA, FPUA owns a 20,000 kW share of the Stanton Power Plant and a 13,000 kW share of the St. Lucie Nuclear Plant (FPUA history page, electric). The city's own HD King plant was decommissioned in 2008 when FMPA's Treasure Coast Energy Center came online; that plant is a 300 MW combined-cycle natural gas plant off Selvitz Road in Fort Pierce, operated and maintained by 15 FPUA employees. Fort Pierce first got electricity on Thanksgiving Day in 1912, after a December 5, 1911 bond election, and the first approved rate was 15 cents per kilowatt hour.

On water, the history page says the 25th Street lime softening plant was completed in 1964, is served by 42 shallow aquifer wells and was built to treat up to 20 million gallons per day (MGD). Because the shallow aquifer cannot supply more than 11 to 12 MGD continuously, FPUA drilled eleven wells into the Floridan Aquifer and completed a 5.3 MGD reverse osmosis plant in December 2002, later expanded to 10.3 MGD; by permit up to 23.35 MGD of treated water can be pumped from the combined plants (FPUA history page, water). The same page counts approximately 395.3 miles of active water mains and 1,699 active fire hydrants in the Fort Pierce system.

FPUA treats Fort Pierce wastewater at the Island Water Reclamation Facility on Hutchinson Island and is moving treatment to a new Mainland Water Reclamation Facility.

The island plant's current configuration was completed in 1986, it treats an average of 4.5 million gallons of wastewater a day against an FDEP permitted capacity of 10 million gallons a day, and it sends all treated effluent into a 3,300 foot deep injection well (FPUA history page, wastewater). The history page also counts 116 lift stations, about 178 miles of gravity mains and 4,500 manholes, and says Lift Station A can pump 8,000 gallons a minute from the mainland to the plant on Hutchinson Island.

The FY 2026 budget calls completion of the Mainland Water Reclamation Facility the wastewater system's predominant project, describes it as a project with a Guaranteed Maximum Price of $140 million funded by Series 2022A refunding revenue bonds, grants and bond interest, and pairs it with a concurrent effort to redirect the conveyance system to the new plant (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget, wastewater system). The FY 2026 capital budget totals $102,522,461, and the five-year capital plan for FY 2026 through FY 2030 totals $277,882,515, of which FPUA allocates 55 percent, or $151,942,920, to relocating the plant, redirecting conveyance and building an electric substation.

FPUA takes service requests online, by phone at (772) 466-1600 and in person at its Customer Service Center on South 6th Street in Fort Pierce.

The FPUA residential page links to an online Start, Stop, or Transfer Service form where customers notify FPUA of their service needs and schedule the request, along with Pay My Bill and Manage My Account (FPUA Residential page). For a business, FPUA asks for a Commercial Service Application; the Customer Service Center is at 206 S. 6th Street and is open 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekdays, excluding holidays, and a Key Account Specialist responds within three business days with the account number and the deposit requirement (FPUA business start, stop and transfer page).

Because electricity is billed after it is used, FPUA requires a security deposit or a deposit alternative such as an indemnity bond or letter of credit before it completes a business application, and all required city and county inspections must be finished before permanent electric service is connected. To move service to a new location, FPUA asks customers to call 772-466-1600, ext 3900, or email cs@fpua.com; to cancel, it asks for three working days' notice, applies the deposit to the final bill and refunds any remainder (FPUA business start, stop and transfer page). Power outages go to a separate line, (772) 466-7703, shown in the header of the FPUA site (FPUA About Us page).

FPUA publishes every current rate resolution on its Rates and Resolutions page, and its current list carries 2026-numbered resolutions for electric, natural gas, water, wastewater, FPUAnet and security deposits.

The page lists Electric Rates No. UA 2026-02, Natural Gas Rates No. UA 2026-03, Water Rates No. UA 2026-04, Wastewater Rates No. UA 2026-05, FPUAnet Rates No. UA 2026-06 and Security Deposits No. UA 2026-01 as current, and keeps earlier resolutions such as Electric Rates No. UA 2025-01 in an archived list (FPUA Rates and Resolutions page). Anyone comparing an older Fort Pierce bill with a current one should check which resolution was in force on the billing date.

The water and wastewater resolutions each provide a 2.23 percent increase in customer and usage charges based on the 2025 Florida Public Service Commission annual price index, and FPUA notified each customer through its billing process as Section 180.136, Florida Statutes, requires (Resolution UA 2026-04; Resolution UA 2026-05). Resolution UA 2026-04 sets the water volume charge at $5.29 per 1,000 gallons beginning on March 1, 2026, above the gallons included in the minimum charge for each meter size. Natural gas history is older still: the City of Fort Pierce entered the gas business in 1962 with the North Gate Station on Angle Road, and FPUA offers 24-hour emergency call-out service for gas appliance repair, piping and installations (FPUA history page, natural gas).

Last verified: October 22, 2026, by re-reading the FPUA history, About, Residential and business service pages, the FY 2026 budget and the 2026 water and wastewater resolutions for this Fort Pierce Utilities Authority guide.