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U.S. NEWS Thursday 21 sepTember 2017

Power is back on in Florida, but utilities still under fire

By GARY FINEOUT Sentinel reported Sun-
MATTHEW DALY day that some retirees
Associated Press resorted to hanging a
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) sign outside their com-
— After a massive resto- plex that read: “Help Still
ration effort, most of Flor- No Power.”
ida has power 10 days “It’s horrible, horrible,”
after Hurricane Irma Barbara Blumlo-Driham,
knocked out electric- 68, told the newspaper.
ity to nearly two-thirds “A nightmare.”
of the state, mostly be- Harry Sideris, Duke En-
cause of improvements ergy Florida president,
made to the power grid earlier this week apolo-
since Hurricane Wilma gized for “not meeting
12 years ago. our customers’ expec-
But that may do little to tations.” The company
stem a growing backlash came under fire for not
over the widespread meeting its initial restora-
outages that caused tion predictions.
misery across the state “They expect and de-
and sparked sharp criti- serve better from us,”
cism from residents and Sideris said. “Our cus-
elected officials. One Workers from Wolf Tree in Chattanooga, Tenn., arrive at Shawnee Trail in Maitland, Fla., Tuesday, tomers are angry and
top utility official apolo- Sept. 19, 2017. A portion of the street still did not have power --more than a week after Hurricane frustrated that we could
gized this week for how Irma struck-- because of downed trees and power lines. not provide them better
long it took to bring back (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP) information.”
electricity. it doesn’t seem to work placing wooden poles Light’s customers had Florida power compa-
Adding to the furor: Nine any better than it used for power lines with con- their power restored nies may be victim of
people who were in a to. crete or steel poles, el- within two days of that their own success in
Florida nursing home Galardi, a software sup- evating substations and storm. Company officials preparing for and re-
died amid sweltering port technician who nor- taking other steps to pre- said they restored power sponding to hurricanes,
heat after the home lost mally works from home, pare for hurricane-level to more than 50 percent argued energy analyst
power for its air condi- hasn’t seen any new winds and flooding. of their customers in the Christi Tezak.
tioner. utility equipment go up Those changes helped 48 hours following Irma. “Folks in Florida don’t
In the immediate after- in his area since crews Florida’s power grid with- The city of Coral Gables have a full understand-
math of Irma’s fury, some replaced poles knocked stand the destructive in Miami-Dade County ing of how badly they’ve
6.7 million homes and down by Hurricane Mat- power of Hurricane Irma, sent a letter to Florida been clocked. Every-
businesses were with- thew in 2016. Galardi utility experts said. Power & Light last Friday, body thinks their power
out power. By Wednes- said the results have “Without the storm hard- saying the utility was “in- should come on as soon
day, that number had been the same from ening, we would have adequately prepared” the wind stops. It doesn’t
dropped to more than Matthew and Irma: Five seen much more preva- to respond to the storm work that way,” said
75,000. days without power. lent structural damage,” even though the utility Tezak, managing direc-
The pace of restoring “The proof is in the pud- said Eric Silagy, the CEO said it brought in more tor of ClearView Energy
power, however, did ding,” he said. “It went of Florida Power & Light, than 22,000 utility workers Partners, a Washington-
little to comfort those down pretty quickly.” the state’s largest utility. from around the county. based research firm.
without it. Despite the frustrations, Wilma walloped the State legislators in cen- “You’re hot, you’re
Chris Galardi, who lives people are waiting less state’s power resources tral Florida took aim at grouchy — no sleep —
in a beachside town a time after improvements and splintered thou- Duke Energy, saying that you want your air con-
few miles north of Dayto- since Wilma and Hur- sands of utility poles, customers in Seminole ditioning back,” Tezak
na Beach, said he hasn’t ricane Charley in 2004. keeping the lights off for County were losing their added. “The truth is
noticed any visible signs Utilities spent billions of weeks in some parts of patience with the com- (power) came online
of improvement in Flori- dollars “hardening” the the state. Only 25 per- pany. much faster in this storm
da’s electrical grid, and Florida power grid by re- cent of Florida Power & The South Florida Sun- than in Wilma.”q