FPL wins top utility reliability award for year it battled Irma

Florida Power & Light Co., which provides electric power to nearly half the state, has been named the winner of a “reliability excellence” award.

Industry group PA Consulting gave FPL the 2018 award for reliability in 2017, which is when the utility faced nearly statewide outages from that September’s Hurricane Irma. The hurricane knocked out power to 90 percent of its customers.

In South Florida, where nearly 2 million homes and businesses lost power from the hurricane, FPL customers complained about massive power outages, with some questioning how much the upgrades helped safeguard their communities. Customers filed complaints with the Florida Public Service Commission about FPL’s customer service in providing restoration times for homeowners and business owners.

FPL blamed most damage to equipment on fallen trees and debris during Hurricane Irma’s winds, but said “hardened” equipment and underground equipment performed well. In its review, the Public Service Commission agreed that storm-hardening the electric grid works to reduce power outages.

PA Consulting said it bases its annual ReliabilityOne awards on a utility’s sustained performance over time, improved performance, and leadership in outage data collection and reporting processes. The New York-based consulting group has more than 2,600 specialists in consumer, defense and security, energy and utilities, financial services, government, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, and transport, travel and logistics.

The group also honored San Diego Gas & Electric, which upgraded its infrastructure due to wildfire concerns, according to a news release on PA’s site.

PA cited the two utilities' grid improvements: “This year’s ReliabilityOne winners raised the bar for their customers in times of extreme emergencies and weather situations,” said Gregg Edeson, PA Consulting’s ReliabilityOne program director. “The winners continue to layer in innovative and groundbreaking technologies to serve their customers and keep the power on in the face of these ‘new normal’ weather conditions.”

This is the third time in four years that FPL has received the national award for service reliability to customers.

In 2006, following devastating storms in 2004 and 2005, FPL and other Florida utilities were forced to make major upgrades to their infrastructure, including replacing rotted wood utility poles, by the Public Service Commission.

Eric Silagy, FPL’s CEO, said the utility has “invested more than $3 billion to make our grid stronger, smarter and more stormresilient.” He said the investments, which have included smart-grid devices and stronger utility poles, have improved service reliability “by 30 percent during the past seven years.”

GETTY Most of 2017’s Hurricane Irma damage was from fallen trees and debris, according to Florida Power & Light Co.