During its first meeting of 2025, the GRU Authority on Wednesday terminated its contract with solar provider Origis Energy and also heard from customers who weighed in on the growing national debate over the use of fluoride in drinking water.

The authority voted to end its solar power agreement with Origis Energy after GRU General Manager Ed Bielarski said the cost of the project had doubled since the initial Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) price in 2020. Bielarski defended the board’s decision, saying that it was not a unilateral decision and that a settlement had been reached with Origis to avoid a deal resulting in higher costs.

The agreement between GRU and Origis started on July 21, 2020, and initiated a PPA for 50 megawatts (MWh) of solar energy. Met with significant delays, the PPA was designed to help unincorporated parts of Alachua County. GRU said one of the biggest causes of the delay was the denial of a special use permit by the Alachua County Commission.

On March 2, 2022, GRU revised its PPA to give the solar power company more time.

After experiencing inflation and increased costs, however, GRU amended the PPA again by raising the price from $31.52 MWh to $40.56 per MWh and increased the project size from 50 megawatts to 75 megawatts on April 20, 2023.

Before the vote, GRU customer David Hastings voiced his disagreement with the disbanding of the solar power agreement.

“Yes, we know some PPA prices have gone up by about 5% this quarter and about 10% over the past year, but that’s no reason to walk away from the contract since many other forms of generating electricity, including gas, are also going to be more expensive,” Hastings said.

Alachua County Labor Coalition coordinator Bobby Mermer voiced his disagreement with the board’s comments that other Florida utilities have experienced the same issues with their solar PPAs.

“After a consultation with the Cleo Institute, (a nonprofit that specializes in climate advocacy and education), we could find no such trend in the state and is a mistake,” Mermer said.

Mermer called the contract termination a “slap in the face” to Gainesville voters who in November voted to dissolve the authority — a result that now rests in the hands of the courts.

League of Women Voters of Alachua County President Janice Garry also mentioned GRU’s dismissal of the referendum and congratulated Gainesville for earning a federal grant of $12 million to install electric vehicle chargers across the city.

“Ideally these vehicles would be charged with solar energy and recently this authority eliminated net metering for rooftop solar now without discussion,” Garry said.

A hot topic among residents Wednesday night not listed on the agenda was the use of fluoride in Gainesville’s drinking water. Several GRU customers provided statements of their own research on how fluoride can harm the IQ of children and the public’s health.

Chris Russell, a Florida operator, said he has been treating water for 20 years and Florida’s Administrative Code only requires the addition of chlorine to water for treatment, not fluoride.

“Fluoride is an additive and we’re approaching this from public health and safety but we’re also trying to reduce the budget,” Russell said.

Other GRU customers, however, defended the use of fluoride and asked the GRU Authority board not to schedule a discussion on the matter in the future.

Dr. Bert Hughes, a dentist and the former president of the Alachua County Dental Association, said he wants the public to know that fluoride is safe.

“We have studied this at the CDC level, the ADA level, and peer reviewed studies all show this is safe to drink,” Hughes said.

Mermer also recommended that the board not formally take up the fluoride debate in the future. He alluded to living in an impoverished area and that drinking well water caused him to have root canals at a early age.

Vice-Chairman David Haslam was the lone board member who commented on the fluoride issue and sided with Mermer’s argument. The board has not addressed if it will add ending fluoride in drinking water as a discussion topic in future meetings.