FPL pushes hard for rate hike

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We are being overcharged for power in South Florida by a corrupt monopoly.

A Florida Power & Light communications director dug up dirt on regulators who are considered consumer-friendly and posted disparaging comments about them on blogs as part of the utility's effort to win a rate hike.

FPL executives have said they want their $1.27 billion base rate hike proposal to be judged on its merits, free from political influence. But the company has conducted an aggressive campaign, some of it behind the scenes, to push for the increase.

Call it intuitive, but....

Well... I called it. Our 500 drops of rain has awoken FPL and it has now decided that we are not paying enough. So, it is going to raise our rates so that we can continue to enjoy their high quality services, not to mention upgrade the nuclear plants to produce more power which, while it may be fine for keeping the air clean, will still continue to produce radio-active waste.

Lovely... just fucking lovely!

FPL wants to boost electric rates by at least $1 billion a year

The company submitted a proposal Wednesday to the Florida Public Service Commission to increase base power rates by $1 billion in 2010 and $1.25 billion in 2011.

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Storm from Hell!

Around 1:00 p. m. yesterday, we had an extreme storm blow through Hollywood. With computer and TV not working and then of course, the mandatory power failure, I sat here in the dark, with lightening, house rattling thunder and high winds cut off from the rest of the world. This storm was worse than anything I experianced with TS Fay.

I think what disturbed me so much was the fact that I could not find a radio station that would tell me what is going on. I finally used my cell phone to get a weather report and found out that I was under a sever weather, tornado and flash flood warning. The storm just seemed to come from nowhere. Power was off for about 30 minutes and my DirecTV service popped on about 5 hours later. My AT&T DSL never came back up. Needless to say, I went to bed early.

Florida Power and Light

I am at my wits end!

During the hurricane season of 2005, we had a few storms that came through Hollywood, however, the big one was Wilma.

In the aftermath of Wilma, I did not have electrical power for 29 days.

Since the power has been returned, not one week as passed that I haven't lost power. Today was typical. Three power outages; all of them blinked completely off than right back on again. I'm sure that these outages were the cause of my washer/dryer going bad and it didn't help my old computer.

When I called Florida Power and Light (FPL), they tell me that they are aware of the problems that occur on my grid, however, at this time there are no plans to fix the problem due to rising repair costs.

I wish I had the money to install alternative power sources. I really only have one available to me. The City of Hollywood will not allow any wind turbine. Solar would help, but the cost for my home would be in the range of $40K

The rebate (up to $20K) that was promised to Floridians was not funded this year, the last year mandated by the US Congress, who went on their August vacation without passing an extension.

FPL has a monopoly on power in south Florida and they do not care. I can only hope that somewhere in the near future, someone can come up with an inexpensive way to power one's home and can clearly give one a choice between FPL and something else to supply power to South Florida Homes.