Hurricane season starts next week, and the official forecast is a doozy.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts up to 25 named storms, up to 13 of them hurricanes, and possibly 7 of those could be at least category 3 status.
Florida’s utility leaders say they are responding to a trend of stronger and more unpredictable hurricanes, and all of that preparation comes at a cost.
State regulators heard their presentations this week ahead of hurricane season.
“We no longer feel comfortable that a category 1 is going to stay a category 1," said Armando Pimentel, president and CEO of Florida Power & Light (FPL), which provides electricity for 5.8 million accounts across half of the state.
“The storms certainly appear to be bigger and stronger now than they have been in the past," he said. "We and others have been surprised by the increase of intensity of those storms in a very, very short period of time.”
Take Idalia, for example. It zoomed through warm Gulf waters last August, going ashore in Keaton Beach in the Big Bend. It quickly escalated into a category 4 storm before dropping to a 3 at landfall.
Pimentel says it’s not the first time a storm has intensified so unexpectedly, and he notes the waters are warm again this year.
“Understanding that it’s important for your customers to have power on as quickly as possibly after a storm, we and others are going to be a little bit more conservative than we’ve been in the past," he said, "because now we can’t miss a category 1 storm turning into a category 4 or 5 storm and not being well-prepared.”
Utility leaders told the Florida Public Service Commission it’s becoming more of a challenge to line up assistance from neighboring states when a rapidly intensifying storm could hit their area. As a result, nearby states that usually send help are holding on to their manpower and resources longer.
“Because of the unpredictability of these hurricanes, you’re planning for a circumstance that’s worse than is being forecasted, and you’re also receiving resources that are coming from much farther away than they probably were coming from historically,” said Tampa Electric Company president and CEO Archie Collins. He said crews came from as far away as Illinois, Virginia, and Arkansas to help after Idalia.
“It is becoming an increasingly difficult game to figure out how to find that balance between being well-prepared and not overspending on planning for an impending hurricane," Collins said.
The News Service of Florida reports the state’s four private electric utilities – FPL, Tampa Electric, Duke Energy Florida, and Florida Public Utilities - can pass along the cost of hurricane preparation and recovery to customers.
“Storm preparedness is right up there with our commitment to safety, reliability, resiliency, prudent spending. And that is what allows us to basically stage an army, and that’s what all of us have to do,” said Duke Florida President Melissa Seixas. Taking care of visiting crews is a significant expense.
“We are literally staging an army. We’ve got to house them, we’ve got to feed them, we’ve got to get their clothes washed, and of course, we need to help keep them safe,” Seixas said. Taking care of those visiting crews is a significant expense for utilities.
“The point you’re really hitting home is the increased intensification of storms and that to be prepared for that is going to necessarily be more costly," said Florida Public Service Commissioner Gabriella Passidomo. She said utilities will have to balance the needs of customers with trying to navigate storms that are becoming more unpredictable.
