Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Agency seeks input on FPL’s response to Irma
After Hurricane Irma, your power was out for a week, you had a fallen utility pole in your yard way too long, or you watched utility crews pass by instead of restoring your electricity.
Where do you complain? In South Florida, many customers tried to call Florida Power & Light Co. But customer service lines were jammed, and residents couldn’t get accurate estimate times via FPL’s recently launched app or online power tracker map.
So the Florida Public Service Commission, charged with regulating electric utilities, has set up a link on its website for residents to give their feedback on how Florida’s electric utilities responded to the Sept. 10-11 hurricane.
Look for “Consumer Comments on Hurricane Preparedness and Restoration” in red on the PSC’s webpage, floridapsc.com/. You’ll find an online form that asks for your name, ZIP code, electric utility provider, power restoration time after the storm, and comments. The space allows comments of up to 1,000 characters.
“We want to hear from customers about their power restoration time and how utility information was provided to them before, during, and after the storm,” said PSC Chairman Julie Brown. “Your comments will be extremely valuable as part of the commission’s review of utility hurricane preparedness and restoration actions.”
The feedback will become part of PSC Docket No. 20170215-EU and considered by the commission, the PSC says. “Interested parties,” according to the docket, include the Office of Public Counsel, Florida Consumer Action Network, the Sierra Club and AARP.
The public can see the comments by clicking on the red “pdf ” to the right of the document.
FPL describes Hurricane Irma as a “massive” storm knocking out power to nearly 90 percent of its customers, 9 million people in 35 counties. The utility brought in thousands of out-of-state crews to help restore power, which took 10 days to accomplish after Irma left the state.
FPL has said fallen trees, overgrown vegetation and some flooding hampered its efforts to restore power.
The high winds toppled 50-foot trees, Bryan Olnick, vice president of distribution operations for FPL, told the Florida Senate committee on communications, energy and public utilities on Tuesday. He also said Irma brought “driving rains from eastern seaboard. There was salt spread more than we have ever seen.”
In South Florida, Irma was little more than a tropical storm, with some hurricane-wind gusts, according to the National Weather Service. Still, power outages were widespread. Some residents and business owners questioned why the number of power outages was so high when winds weren’t as strong as expected. In addition, FPL had spent nearly $3 billion since 2006 to harden its electric grid.
After the hurricanes in 2004-2005, the PSC adopted rules for utilities to “cost-effectively strengthen, or storm harden,” the