Utilities file plans to bolster structures
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 2, 2006
TALLAHASSEE - Florida's major public electric utilities filed plans with state regulators Thursday to outline how they intend to strengthen their infrastructure to better stand up to storms.
The plans, requested by the Public Service Commission in the wake of the storms of the past two years, will be discussed by regulators next week. Among the hardening initiatives utilities intend to pursue are stepped-up tree trimming around power lines, helicopter and ground surveys of poles and lines to identify weak poles, and replacement of older wooden poles with concrete.
Florida Power & Light, Progress Energy, Tampa Electric and Gulf Power all had to file hurricane infrastructure strengthening plans with the PSC by Thursday.
The PSC has already voted to require power companies to step up their inspections of poles to try to reduce outages. The new requirement calls for inspection of poles at least once every eight years, which is more rigorous than most current inspection cycles. For example, FPL, the state's largest utility, had been on a cycle of inspecting most poles about every 15 years.
Some companies are already under the eight-year cycle: Gulf Power in the Panhandle, for example, sees each pole at least once every six years. Many Florida utilities say they've been upgrading their systems over the past few years. FPL recently announced a plan to overhaul much of its infrastructure and switch to stronger poles, for example. And Progress Energy, the state's second-largest utility, said it voluntarily increased its tree trimming budget from $13.7-million last year to $19.7-million this year because clearing tree limbs around power lines reduces outages. The company also said in its plan that it was increasing its trimming schedule with the start of the hurricane season Thursday.
"No one needed to tell us to do that; we came to that conclusion after the last two hurricane seasons," said Progress spokesman C.J. Drake. "We have been improving and refining our storm response for the past several years, and it's an ongoing process."
Progress said it will also increase its ground inspections of its 4,800-mile transmission system so that each line will have a ground inspection every five years.