It seems FPL cleaned up the downed power lines yesterday, but has revised its estimate to turn on all the power in the area to Tuesday. We’ll see if Coral Gables goes through with its threat to impose fines.
I was out for a brief drive to the library today (Comcast still hasn’t fixed the internet, and the library has wifi) and saw a lot of electricity trucks working in the area. Hard to know, but maybe that letter from the Commission had an effect; or maybe it’s just our turn.
I, too, saw multiple power restoration crews from FPL (as well as other out-of-state power companies) all throughout Coral Gables, and only in the course of driving to and from work. In other words, I wasn’t driving around “looking for crews.” And at the same time, I have witnessed only 2 crews working in the Palmetto Estates area during the 7+ days since the hurricane passed. And I have driven around looking for crews in this area and just can’t find them. Perhaps they are all in Coral Gables. This certainly looks as if FPL appeased the threats made by the Coral Gables City Attorney. If he (the attorney) knew (and I assume he would be intelligent enough to know) that the only way in which FPL could comply with his demands would be to remove crews from other areas and re-deploy them in Coral Gables, is there a legal basis for a class-action against both Coral Gables and FPL by the communities in which power restoration was delayed in order to expedite restorations in Coral Gables? I am certainly not an attorney, but it sure looks like unethical abuse of legal clout on behalf of Coral Gables and downright discrimination on the part of FPL.
No chance of a suit, sorry. Lots of bad behavior isn’t illegal; lots of illegal behavior doesn’t create a right to sue.
Here, the only party that might have standing to sue the cities is FPL itself, and they’re not about to do that.
OTOH, I read about a class action lawsuit against FPL in the Herald today that sounds very plausible–if the facts in the allegation are true. I certainly recall thinking that the trees near our power line looked a lot taller than in previous years, and wondering if FPL had missed out on trimming them this year.