Customers
hear more horror stories from Florida Power & Light and other Florida
power companies than their wallets can stand: The latest in a long row:
“FPL gets OK to increase bills an average 20.6% .” We heard plenty of
these hair-raising tales before:
The only people still
happy about these messages are the shareholders of the power companies.
Their dividends didn’t even show that we had hurricanes. According to FPL spokesman Bill Swank, (quote) “FPL
would probably not dip into company profits to pay for the added costs
because ‘Wall Street would look askance at our financial health’.''
(end quote) Meaning
in my words: “Let’s keep
shareholders and Wall Street happy – who cares about the common folks?
They have to pay whatever we tell them or we cut off their power! Our service sucks – but we have the monopoly – and you
better not forget it!” Despite permanent
rate hikes and power outages, the power companies are unwilling to improve
their service. And as long as
our Florida legislators are unwilling to take on The Giant known as
“Power Companies,” we consumers will suffer and -- to add insult
to injury – pay even more! And we can be sure
about one thing: Wilma
wasn’t the last hurricane to visit Florida, meaning the surcharges will
continue endlessly until no property owner can afford to pay the bills any
longer. A totally antiquated power system supplies the energy to our homes and businesses. Florida power companies still use the old-fashioned type of above-ground power lines that other countries had banned decades ago. Visitors from Europe laugh when seeing power lines on wooden poles in a state known for hurricanes. My Mom always says: "I remember these kind of power lines shortly after WWII, but then they disappeared quickly!" Please don't give me the line about communities that had power outages even though their power lines are underground. Gee, what a surprise? I heard the same excuse last year from a FPL official. Guess what -- the feeder lines into our community were above ground and trees had fallen onto those above-ground feeder lines! As soon as the feeder line -- above ground -- was repaired, we all had power again. No lines had been destroyed inside the community, where all lines are underground. There is no doubt:
Burying power lines would eliminate a big part of the problem! The big question?
Who pays for the cost of burying the power lines? As long as we consumers have to pay the bill for the repairs of hurricane damage, FPL and other companies supplying power in Florida would be downright stupid even to consider changes. They can wait until the next hurricane hits and then blame all necessary maintenance on “hurricane damage.” A recent report from the Public Service Commission showed that many poles should have long been replaced as part of regular maintenance; and FPL would have had to pay for replacement as part of their regular business expense. But if they want to pay their stockholders higher dividends, they just wait for the next hurricane and hope these poles will be destroyed by the hurricane, so we consumers can pay for it! Maybe the surcharge paid by the customers should be earmarked for modernizing power lines, meaning get rid off wooden power poles! All other businesses carry the risk of doing business -- not so FPL! Just check last year's dividends paid to the stockholders! As long as we consumers allow these power companies to charge us consumers for the repair of their lines, they have no incentive to change their antiquated system. Admitted:
Burying lines isn't the cure-all for the power-supply problems Florida
faces, but it would definitely reduce the power chaos to a very reasonable
level! And it will bring down
our bills in the long run! Isn't
that a goal worth fighting for? What’s next? Are they willing to
do something about it? Only time will tell! |