FPL could owe $1.4 billion in fines for 2008 blackout

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) could fine FPL as much as $1.4 billion for some 25 "violations of reliability standards" in the runup to a Feb. 26, 2008 blackout that affected more than 2 million Floridians.

According to a story in the Palm Beach Post:

The maximum penalty for each violation is $1 million a day, and FPL believes FERC could claim that some of the violations started Jan. 1, 2008. That would mean FPL could be liable for violations on as many as 57 days. If fines for 25 charges were levied for all 57 days, FPL could owe as much as $1.4 billion.

The utility has attributed the Feb. 26 blackout to a mistake by a field engineer at a Miami-Dade County substation. Against company policy, the engineer disabled two levels of protection, which allowed a fault to roll across the grid, the company has said.

Read the Post story online, here. Or, read Miami Herald coverage online, here.