FPL customers struggle to pay bills, deposits

Today's story in the Miami Herald should erase any doubt about whether or not FPL is going to share the public's pain in the midst of the economic downturn.

On the contrary, despite record profits FPL is cracking down on customers struggling to stay current with their ever-rising monthly electricity bill:

Late payers can expect a demand from FPL that they make large deposits, have payments deducted from their bank accounts or have a third-party guarantee payment. FPL says it is following prudent business practices using steps approved by state regulators. FPL earned $789 million last year, down from $836 million in 2007, a drop attributed mostly to the economic slowdown.

FPL's moves have angered some customers. Complaints to state regulators are up 20 percent this year; FPL would not provide exact numbers of affected customers but spokesman Mayco Villafaña said any customer ''who develops a late payment or nonpayment history'' is asked for a deposit. The company disconnects customers only as a last resort, he said -- only after a series of warnings by mail, phone and/or e-mail.

Read the full Herald story online, here.

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.

FPL Group profits jump 82 percent

FPL Group's 2008 profits actually jumped by 82 percent, despite the country being in a recession, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Julie Patel in a blog post today.

Juno Beach-based FPL Group, parent company of Florida Power & Light, reported today that its fourth quarter net income increased from $224 million, or 56 cents a share, in 2007 to $408 million, or $1.01 a share, last year. Its annual profit increased 25 percent, from $1.31 billion to $1.64 billion.

Even so, the Group's Florida unit -- Florida Power & Light -- somehow reported a 13 percent drop in fourth quarter earnings and plans to ask Florida State regulators in March for an increase in its base rates to take effect in 2010, the paper noted.

Read the full Sun-Sentinel blog entry online here.

FPL Rivera plant revamp to hamper Palm Beach reef project

The Palm Beach Post reports today that FP&L's plan to revamp its Rivera Beach power plant "could throw a wrench into Palm Beach County's efforts to create artificial reefs off its coast."

For more than two decades, the county has leased land on the south side of the power plant and used it as a staging area to store rocks and other supplies for artificial reefs.

But FPL has warned the county that construction at the plant could render the site off limits from 2011 to 2015, County Commission Chairman Jeff Koons said.

Read the full Post story online, here.

Activists jailed over FPL protest in Barley Barber Swamp

On Saturday, 17 Earth First! activists were arrested for entering the Barley Barber Swamp near Lake Okeechobee to demand the protection of Florida old growth ecosystems against the encroachment of FPL.

Everglades Earth First! has charged that aquifer pumping related to FPL's massive 3750 megaWatt Martin County power plant and adjacent 17-mile-long cooling pond are killing the 1,000-year old Cypress trees in Barley Barber, one of the few remaining old growth cypress swamps in the Southeast.

In a press statement, Earth First! noted that "several of the bald cypress trees in Barley Barber are over a thousand years old. They are the oldest in Florida and the entire Southeast region."

According to the press relase, posted online at the Eye on Miami blog:

"Following a five day standoff, six activists entered the swamp through a public waterway and chained themselves to trees. Eleven other activists were swept up by the police in a frivolous attempt to quell the protest. Currently, Everglades Earth First! is confronted with the immediate need to raise $18,000 to bail these courageous activists out of Martin County jail."

Local TV footage posted at Eye On Miami has also been posted on YouTube by Earth First!.

Additional coverage, along with photos and video footage of the 1,000-year old Cypress trees in Barley Barber are online at PlanetSave.com, here.

Activists say FPL is killing 1,000-year-old Cypress Trees

Palm Beach County activists are charging FPL with killing thousand-year-old cypress trees and trying to hide it in 455-acre Barley Barber swamp area, according to a Broward-Palm Beach New Times report.

Activists at Everglades Earth First, already battling FPL in court, says that FPL is pumping water so quickly from the area that the millenial trees are dying off at a rapid rate.

The paper quotes Everglades Earth First activist Russ McSpadden as saying:

"The FPL power plant sucks up water so fast from the aquifer that it is pulling the soil down below, leaving the roots of these ancient trees exposed. The whole place is collapsing."

FPL apparently purchased Barley Barber swamp in Martin County three decades ago and for years gave tours of the area known for its ancient cypress trees and abundant wildlife until closing down the swamp after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Read the full Broward-Palm Beach New Times story online here.

FL PSC says 'clean energy' should include nukes, coal

The Miami Herald reports today that she staff of the state's Public Service Commission has recommended redefining renewable energy to include nuclear and clean coal.

Such a redefinition would make it easier for FPL and other electric utilities to comply with a goal set by Gov. Charlie Crist of having 20 percent of all electrical power come from renewable energy by 2020.

Environmentalists are opposed to the redefinition, while FPL immediately expressed its support for the PSC staff recommendation.

Read the full Herald story online, here.

No One is Lining Up for FPL Lines, says Riptide 2.0

The Miami News Times' Riptide 2.0 blog notes the FPL power lines controversy through southwest Miami-Dade County communities.

One route cuts through the old Florida East Coast Railroad property, which runs along South Miami Elementary and Middle School ... Another candidate route is along US1. Of course, that's one of the main drags through town, and adding power lines could seriously add a whole new dimension of ugly.

Photos of US1 and power-line heavy SW 7th Street are provided as visuals.

Read the Riptide 2.0 post online here.

FPL charges to 'educate' on power conservation draw criticism

The Miami Herald reports today that "The simplest way to battle global warming is to use less electricity. But that basic idea has produced a bitter battle between environmentalists and Florida Power & Light."

In fact, says the paper, FPL claims that 2006 federal data shows it's No. 1 nationally for something called "cumulative energy efficiency achievement."

Utilities like FPL are required by a 1980 law to teach customers how to conserve energy -- FPL says it's doing such a good job educating its customers that it deserves to keep charging them for the education, about $2 dollars per month on their electricity bill.

The story points out the obvious, that:

Environmentalists are skeptical of some of FPL's claims. Stephen Smith, head of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, wrote recently to the Governor's Action Team on Energy and Climate Change that FPL's claim to be No. 1 relates to demand reduction programs, paying customers to lower usage at certain times, and not overall energy savings.

Measuring energy savings as a percentage of total sales, FPL ranks No. 19 nationally, Smith wrote. ``Energy savings, not demand reduction, is the path to reduced global warming.''

Certainly, customers are paying. In a PSC workshop earlier this year, environmentalist Holly Binns said Florida utilities have collected $4.15 billion from customers since 1981 to reduce electricity consumption, but consumption per customer has risen 44 percent in Florida while it declined by 28 percent in California, an early advocate of energy-efficient appliances and building codes as well as demanding aggressive programs from utilities.

You can read the full Herald story online, here.

Employee's stolen laptop does not pose a risk, FPL says

In the Miami Herald today, we learn that the theft of an FPL employee's laptop computer containing sensitive information about the Turkey Point nuclear plant poses "no risk" to the public safety.

Apparently, the laptop contained informationthat includes "a simulator model for the reactor and schematics" ... but "There was no security breach," stressed Florida Power & Light spokesman Tom Veenstra.

Just the latest with Turkey Point problems, as the Herald notes:

Turkey Point was in the news this week for another security matter.

A state commission on Tuesday ordered FPL to pay back $6 million it charged to customers after shutting down the plant in 2006 because a disgruntled contract employee drilled a hole in a crucial pipe.

Read the full Herald story online, here.

Proposed power lines have South Miamians raising eyebrows

The Miami Herald reports today that FPL says it is "looking at four options" for the paths of new high-voltage power lines that would run north from the Turkey Point nuclear plant through southwest Miami-Dade County communities.

Herald staff writer Elaine de Valle says one of the four alternate routes that "cuts right through the western edge of the city on the old Florida East Coast Railroad property, that runs along South Miami Elementary and High schools" has neighbors upset and quotes Vice-Mayor Brian Beasley as saying:

''I'm having problems with it going through our city,'' Beasley said. ``I don't want it near residential homes. That's just not going to happen.''

De Valle also quoted FPL spokesman Eloy Villasuso as saying the company "needs to add lines to the existing power corridor from Turkey Point [nuclear plant] to Davis station, which is at about Southwest 138th Street and 127th Avenue, and build new lines from Davis to the Northeast parts of Miami." She also quoted Villasuso as saying that State Road 874 and U.S. 1 are both being looked at as potential paths for the project.

Here's more:

Residents at Thursday's meeting were resoundingly against having the lines along the railroad track. Many of them said the property had been marked for a ''rails-to-trails'' walking and bike path project by the Florida Department of Transportation.

Those plans, which date to 2002, have gone nowhere and likely will stall further as the state and county deal with fewer resources.

But residents said the property is still wrong for a high-voltage power corridor.

''Hundreds of neighbors have been waiting for this property to be turned into a park,'' said Elizabeth Gonzalez, whose home on 69th Avenue just south of Sunset Drive is right up against the tracks.

The full Herald story is online here:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/gables_smiami/story/811315.html

UPDATE: Residents want to stop FPL high-voltage lines along US 1, Florida East Coast Railroad

Herald: FPL to discuss high-voltage lines in South Miami

The Miami Herald reported today that FPL is scheduled to meet with residents of South Miami on Thursday "to explain their plans to take the FEC railroad track property that runs along South Miami Elementary and High School and put high-voltage power lines there:

Herald staff writer Elaine de Valle reports on the latest in the series of public meetings about the FPL proposal to to run power lines from the Turkey Point nuclear plant north from Homestead to Doral:

''We are proposing to expand our transmission system to enhance reliability and accommodate future service requirements in the South Florida area,'' said Mayco Villafaña, adding that four new tracks of lines are being proposed, three in the western part of Miami-Dade and this one that runs through South Miami.

And, despite what Villafaña called "open houses throughout the neighborhoods to hear the recommendations and suggestions from our customers," De Valle also reports that:

Some South Miami residents are concerned about supposed health risks associated with power lines and the effect they may have on property values.

The South Miami meeting begins at 4 p.m. Thursday at the South Miami Elks Club Lodge No. 1676, 6304 SW 78th St.

The full Herald article is online at:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/gables_smiami/story/806500.html

UPDATE: Residents want to stop FPL high-voltage lines along US 1, Florida East Coast Railroad