FPL to receive storm response grade
Utility’s website gets upgraded
With another hurricane season a month away, Florida Power & Light Co. and other utilities in the state are finally getting graded on their performance in September’s Hurricane Irma and 2016’s Hurricane Matthew.
The Florida Public Service Commission has scheduled a hurricane workshop on Wednesday and Thursday in Tallahassee to review the utilities’ performance and learn about preparations for the upcoming hurricane season.
After Irma, FPL customers complained about a lack of effective communications and a widespread power outage. The Juno Beach-based electric utility blamed a nearly statewide storm and overgrown vegetation for damaging electrical equipment, resulting in 9 million people losing power in early September.
In a public docket of feedback collected by regulators, Fort Lauderdale resident Bob Kramm asked: “What has FPL done to ensure customer service can provide accurate, dependable, ‘caring,’ and informed communications by email and by phone?”
Kramm said FPL’s response to Irma was “arrogant, uncaring, dysfunctional, ill-informed, and helpless.” FPL’s communications system indicated power at his home was restored five times “when we were calling from a dark house.”
At the two-day workshop, FPL is expected to discuss its preparation for the 2018 hurricane season, as well as review its performance during September’s Hurricane Irma, which knocked out power for 90 percent of the state’s customers, and 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, which spared South Florida and moved up the Eastern Coast.
Wednesday’s session is set to begin with commission staff’s summary of results and findings based on inquiries after Irma, and feedback from consumers and stakeholders, such as cities, that have been collected in a public docket since October.
Bryan Olnick, FPL’s vice president of distribution operations, is scheduled to give a 10-minute statement, followed by other Florida utilities. A question-and-answer period will follow, with topics suggested by the commission staff including the preparation and restoration process, performance of utility equipment that has been hardened or strengthened
compared with equipment that has not, underground vs. overground equipment performance, impediments to restoration after the hurricane, and customer and stakeholder communication.
On Thursday, FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy is expected to be at the utility’s annual “hurricane drill,” where the media has been invited to learn about its hurricane season preparations.
FPL has informed the commission of at least one improvement: The company’s website, FPL.com, which crashed due to a high volume of customers seeking their power status after Irma, can now handle “extreme” customer traffic, according to documents filed with regulators in February.
What won’t be discussed with FPL or other utilities is the prioritization of service for nursing homes and assisted living facilities. After Hurricane Irma, eight patients died at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills when the air conditioner failed; four died later. The Hollywood nursing home had no backup generator.
Commission spokeswoman Cindy Muir said “identification of critical facilities is between the utility and the local EOC (emergency operations center).”
The hurricane workshop was originally scheduled for early April but moved to May 2 and 3. Asked why the workshop is happening only a month before start of the 2018 hurricane season on June 1, Muir said the staff has been analyzing information gathered from the utilities and consumer feedback, and that “time is necessary to make practical, constructive recommendations.”
The workshop is taking place at the Betty Easley Conference Center, Room 149, 4075 Esplanade Way. The workshop will be streamed on the commission’s website, floridapsc.com, beginning at 9:30 a.m. each day. Click on “Watch Live Broadcast.”