For FPL, a new storm begins

Customers ask why $3 billion worth of upgrades failed to keep the lights on

The feared direct hit to South Florida from Hurricane Irma never happened. But most people lost power anyway, enduring days of dark houses, cold meals and sweltering heat.

When Hurricane Irma arrived Sept. 10, it struck a system that Florida Power & Light Co. had spent nearly $3 billion to reinforce. The company strengthened poles, transmission structures and substations in a project paid for by customers through storm surcharges. Wood power poles were replaced with concrete and steel poles rated for winds at 145 mph.

“Not one concrete pole has gone down as a result of wind,” FPL spokesman Rob Gould said.

Still, 90 percent of FPL customers in South Florida lost power. That was even though the tri-county region had mostly tropicalforce winds with some hurricane-force gusts, accord-

ing to the National Weather Service.

If the grid was so much stronger, why did almost everyone lose power?

Cities that charge FPL franchise fees are demanding explanations for what some officials consider a sub-par performance. Some tri-county residents say they want their money back.

“It was disappointing that after all the hardening that took place and after all the assurances that we were ready for any kind of natural catastrophe that it did take this long,” Pompano Beach Commissioner Rex Hardin said. “And I understand it was a strong storm. But in Pompano Beach and along the east coast here it was nothing we don’t experience — it was a tropical storm. It doesn’t seem that FPL was as prepared as we thought they were.”

FPL’s performance is certain to receive more public scrutiny in the coming months, as the Juno Beachbased company seeks to pass hurricane costs to customers and as elected officials respond to complaints from constituents.

The utility says the grid held up well, as shown by how quickly power was restored to the vast majority of customers, compared to the weeks following Hurricane Wilma in 2005. After Wilma exposed rotting poles and other weaknesses in the system, FPL started its long campaign to upgrade it.

During Wilma, FPL lost about 12,000 power poles. “During Irma, initial estimates show about 2,000 poles went down ... and most of them were neighborhood poles that have not been part of our hardening program,” Garner said.

The utility also installed flood mitigation devices at 223 substations, and distributed 4.9 million smart meters to assess the status of restoration work.

As a result, when Irma struck, the system’s hardware — the transmission structures, poles and substations — sustained far less damage than in Wilma, which meant far less repair work was necessary to restore power.

Smart monitors at substations went off to allow waters to recede in flooded areas, so that FPL could turn them back on quickly, rather than having to replace equipment. Poles held up far better than the decayed wooden ones that failed during Wilma.

The usual causes, the company said. Trees fell onto power lines, debris flew into lines and some ground-level structures got knocked offline by flooding.

FPL said trimming trees is a “shared responsibility,” with communities charged with maintaining trees along roadways and in their rights of way. And customers have the responsibility to both plant “the right tree in the right place” and maintain trees on their property, Garner said.

The utility clears vegetation from all main power lines on a three-year cycle and all neighborhood lines on a six-year cycle, he said.

“You can harden a power pole, but you can’t stop a tree from blowing into power lines,” Garner said.

So FPL had doubled the number of vegetation crews for Irma than it had summoned for Wilma, Garner said.

But Scott Aaronson, executive director of the Edison Electric Institute, an industry association in Washington, D.C., said Florida utilities including FPL reached out to recruit more vegetation management crews.

“One of the shortfalls was vegetation management,” Aaronson said. “FPL and other [utility] companies recognized this deficiency and put out a call at the CEO level.”

Although the company restored power to most people faster than it did after Wilma, there were still problems with its poststorm response.

Many customers complained they couldn’t reach FPL or received only countywide estimates for restoration. Or they were told their power was on when it wasn’t. FPL apologized for the failure, saying it was focused on restoring power but would seek ways to improve customer communications.

“FPL deserves two sweaty thumbs down for customer service,” wrote Nancye White, 66, a Hollywood resident, who went without power for a week after the storm. To add to her frustration, the power came on briefly mid-week and then went out again.

“I don’t think they were prepared. This storm was not that strong,” said Bernie Langeluttig, 80, whose Fort Lauderdale home was without power for more than a week after Irma.

Still, at Valencia Shores, a single-family home development for retirees in western Palm Beach County, Richard Goodwin had a completely different experience. His power never went out. Goodwin credits his community’s underground transmission lines. An electrical engineer, Goodwin said FPL’s new “smart grid” worked.

“Rather then criticizing FPL for inferior communication, their engineers and technicians should be praised for maintaining and restoring electrical power — quicker than after Hurricanes Jeanne and Francis,” he wrote in an email to the Sun Sentinel, referring to the 2004 storms.

Some business owners and residents questioned FPL’s deployment of more than 20,000 crews. Many of the workers came from out of state.

James Humpage, an electrical contractor whose Margate office lost power, believes crews were mismanaged. He saw some near his business. But the workers told him there was nothing they could do for his office until FPL signed off. “I saw two grand in wasted time and crews,” he asserted.

Residents and officials also question FPL’s priorities in restoring power, which are developed with county officials before hurricane season. Customers and officials want to know why certain vulnerable populations — especially a Hollywood rehabilitation center where eight people died — were not on FPL’s