FPL: The Saga Continues

Florida Light & Power (FPL) came by today to install a new meter. These new meters will allow FPL to read the meter over the City-wide Wi-Fi system that Hollywood implemented a couple of years ago. So now, our taxes are paying for a remote system for not only the city to read our water meters, but now private business to use it to read our electric meters.

You think that is saving us money? Not hardly. Electricity rates are going up. I guess it is to pay for all those new meters and to pay for the Wi-Fi systems to read it in places where there is no city-wide Wi-Fi systems. I guess now, there are also more jobs lost as meter readers lose jobs in a job market that is now topping 20%.

Isn't it rich.

FPL pushes hard for rate hike

Full Story

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.

FPL Seeks Rate Hike

This just in:

Florida Power and Light is asking the state for a double digit rate hike.

If approved FPL customers will see an average increase of 12 dollar on their electric bills starting in January. The increase would bring an extra 1.3 billion dollars into the company. Consumer groups are asking the state to deny the increase. AARP spokeswoman Laura Cantwell says the increase would force some seniors to make tough decisions.

“We feel that we need to question Florida Power and Light’s request to increase their profits right now. Florida Power and Light has a guaranteed rate of return of investments, yet they are asking to dig deeper into the pockets of Floridians and seniors, many of whom have lost their retirement savings,”

The Florida Public Service Commission will host several public hearings before it votes on the increase.

— Capitol News Service

Major Storms cause power outages; Radar Vanishes

We are experiencing major storms today, here in South Florida. This morning, a huge electrical storm left me without power for five and three-quarter hours. As the storm moved South into the Miami area, the storm knock out Miami Radar. It is still down as a new storm comes in from the East (the Atlantic Ocean).

It is still unclear from all weather reports how sever the storm will be, however, local weather stations reporting to weatherunderground.com show steady winds in the area of 17 mph with gusts up to 40 mph and rain falling at a rate of 1.49in/hr.

While I have not lost power during this storm (so far), ATT's DSL Internet is sporadic at best.

This is not a tropical storm and I question our power company, FPL, as to their claims of being ready for this year's hurricane season, which is upon us.

While I can understand why DirecTV's service is interrupted by storms, I do not understand why I should be losing phone service, thus Internet service and electricity, just because it is raining.

I understand that General Electric and FPL have teamed up to build a "Smart Grid" in Miami-Dade County and that resources in South Florida are being tied up installing such a system, but this new grid troubles me. I do not believe the public fully understands the significance this grid is going be on their lives and that if they had full knowledge of what the grid is, there would be more public debate on the subject.

Will discuss the further at a later time.

I'm glad someone thinks like me

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.

— Full Story

'Tis the Season for FPL Ranting

We here in South Florida have a little less than 11 weeks to prepare for hurricane season. Last year, there was a storm two weeks before the season officially began.

I have just started making lists and I was hoping that Florida Power and Light (FPL) would also be working at making our fragile electric grid a little stronger. We lucked out last year with no strong storms, however, even after all the time since Hurricane Wilma passed, I still have 3 to 4 outages a week. Some weeks, it goes out every day. Some of my friends, along with me, have lost some appliances due to power surges.

Our bills have doubled and it has been promised that electricity cost will rise even more in the near future and most of us are just stuck with a company that doesn't care about its customers, I guess because there is no competition.

I just cannot accept the excuse that the reason power went off in 3 counties in the last 24 hours is because it rained. That is not an excuse. That is a cop-out.

Thousands still without power after South Florida rain storms

Electricity has been restored to about half the 24,000 Florida Power & Light customers left in the dark after heavy overnight rains doused Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, causing dozens of traffic accidents that snarled the morning commute.

About 11,200 utility customers are still affected.

As of noon, those still affected were 4,000 customers in Miami-Dade County, 3,200 in Broward and 4,000 in Palm Beach County, FPL said.

"It's a shifting number," said utility spokeswoman Sarah Marmion. "It's been going up and down all night long. We anticipate there will be outages throughout the day. But we have ample crews ready to go."

Among the reason for the outages are brittle branches that broke free during the storm and struck power lines. At least one transformer also malfunctioned somewhere in Broward, Marmion said.

The number of outages, Marmion said, is small when considering FPL serves more than 2.2 million customers in the tri-county area.

"We haven't had a storm in a long time," she said. "These are relatively common numbers."

— Full Story

Merry Christmas to me!

As I have said in an earlier post, December is not my month.

Yesterday morning, I got up early to start washing bed linens and clothes for my much anticipated company from family on the 29th. Much to my dismay, my 13-month old washing machine refused to work.

Being one month out of the warranty, I had no other choice than to purchase a new machine via Sears.com.

Since I'm low on funds at this time, I went with the cheapest. This machine was not available 13 months ago, however. At that time, none of their cheaper machines were lighter on water usage nor energy efficient. This unit was also on sale, however, no expensive enough to forgo the $65 delivery charge. Oh well.. the $57 savings on this Kenmore 400 3.2 cu. ft. Capacity Top-Load Washer, almost covered the delivery. I will continue to dry the clothes on the line outside.

Their website has become more friendly than 13 months ago when I was last in the market for a washer. This is the fourth washing machine I've had in this house, and with my luck, it won't be the last. The new washing machine will be delivered Christmas Eve.

I truly believe that we need these appliances made with good old US-worker ethic of producing well-built, long lasting appliances. These foreign-made units just don't last. Of course, FPL's electricity surges don't help either.

A gift I didn't want to have to get!

BAH HUMBUG!!!

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.