Power back in much of Florida

Pace faster than in previous storms; 75,000 still in dark

Linemen from Duke Energy work to replace a utility pole Tuesday in Maitland, Fla.
Linemen from Duke Energy work to replace a utility pole Tuesday in Maitland, Fla.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- In the 10 days since Hurricane Irma knocked out electricity to nearly two-thirds of Florida, the state has restored power for most residents, mostly because of improvements made to the power grid since Hurricane Wilma 12 years ago.

In the immediate aftermath of Irma, about 6.7 million homes and businesses were without power. By Wednesday, that number had dropped to more than 75,000.

The pace of restoring power, however, did little to comfort those without it.

Chris Galardi, who lives in a town a few miles north of Daytona Beach, said he hasn't noticed any visible signs of improvement in Florida's electrical grid, adding that it doesn't seem to work any better than it used to.

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Photos by The Associated Press

Galardi, a software support technician who normally works from home, said he hasn't seen any new utility equipment go up in his area since crews replaced poles knocked down by Hurricane Matthew last year. Galardi said the results have been the same from Matthew and Irma: several days without power.

"The proof is in the pudding," he said. "It went down pretty quickly."

Despite the frustrations, people aren't waiting as long because of improvements since Wilma and Hurricane Charley struck in 2004. Utilities spent billions of dollars "hardening" the Florida power grid by replacing wooden poles with concrete or steel poles, elevating substations and taking other steps to prepare for hurricane-level winds and flooding.

Those changes helped Florida's power grid withstand the destructive power of Hurricane Irma, utility experts said.

"Without the storm hardening, we would have seen much more prevalent structural damage," said Eric Silagy, the CEO of Florida Power & Light, the state's largest utility.

Wilma walloped the state's power resources and splintered thousands of utility poles, keeping the lights off for weeks in some parts of the state. Only 25 percent of Florida Power & Light's customers had their power restored within two days of that storm. Company officials said they restored power to more than 50 percent of their customers in the 48 hours after Irma.

The city of Coral Gables in Miami-Dade County sent a letter to Florida Power & Light on Friday, saying the utility was "inadequately prepared" to respond to the storm even though the utility said it had more than 22,000 utility workers on hand. State legislators in central Florida took aim at Duke Energy, saying that customers in Seminole County were losing their patience with the company.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Sunday that some retirees resorted to hanging a sign outside their complex that read: "Help Still No Power."

"It's horrible, horrible," Barbara Blumlo-Driham, 68, told the newspaper. "A nightmare."

Harry Sideris, the president of Duke Energy Florida, earlier this week apologized for "not meeting our customers' expectations." The company has drawn criticism for not meeting its initial restoration predictions.

"They expect and deserve better from us," Sideris said. "Our customers are angry and frustrated that we could not provide them better information."

Florida power companies may be the victim of their own success in preparing for and responding to hurricanes, energy analyst Christi Tezak said.

"Folks in Florida don't have a full understanding of how badly they've been clocked. Everybody thinks their power should come on as soon as the wind stops. It doesn't work that way," said Tezak, managing director of ClearView Energy Partners, a Washington-based research firm.

"You're hot, you're grouchy -- no sleep -- you want your air conditioning back," Tezak added. "The truth is [power] came online much faster in this storm than in Wilma."

Information for this article was contributed by Terry Spencer, Jay Reeves and Adriana Gomez Lincon of The Associated Press.

A Section on 09/21/2017

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