[{"_1":2,"_88":-5,"_89":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6298154,"mediaKeyId","2505407-149efa75617e9469b1adf5cfff06308a","parentId",2505407,"title","Public Counsel warns SPP approvals lack front-end prudency checks; urges broader discussion of who pays","audioSeconds",6527,"startMs",79000,"endMs",6606000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2505407-149efa75617e9469b1adf5cfff06308a&start=79&end=6606","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2505407-149efa75617e9469b1adf5cfff06308a/thumbnail_79000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6298154/Florida/Public-Counsel-warns-SPP-approvals-lack-front-end-prudency-checks-urges-broader-discussion-of-who-pays","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6298154-502dfaa405f6fda4005e7171f4eb4c4c/orig.mp4?Expires=1771108746&Signature=gVQQyNBi6SfA-5~SXgmhkqW0rtSWLNMqUElXVNWz8kmh4m0Z6~DRb-HIWBoowQi3Mbp5VNSOhcWw9mpoGbcIeb8DDp0CJRCRjpZkslysBfns0E3wV6Wap0WaVbNwEKhUw16jBPPVfFZdTHU~2zmxmhwCS7xcP8coVZsxB0o1AQuKYF6TmsjEhLKifH3an3MSsU8bK5nV~iPvsijtR9~7sN3jIjbyw2D5JkhdfeZUKvM3oHhCwFTEY-WRGNe7LWnaVHnEXAjvNeeVDOTmgsTg1Z~tYPZpJyoIBJ-bEObqUdL~XTR7FGGujerT6ejkKBTnnP7c9mmOK8QTrSwTqiPw8g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Florida State Legislature","date","2025-03-04T00:00:00Z","article","Public Counsel and Florida Public Service Commission staff told the Senate Regulated Industries Committee that the state’s storm protection plan (SPP) framework has two distinct stages: plan approval under a public-interest standard and later cost-recovery proceedings where the commission evaluates the prudency of actual expenditures.

Mark Futrell, deputy executive director for technical matters at the Florida Public Service Commission, outlined the statutory background dating to post-Hurricane Andrew changes and later 2005 financing rules. Futrell described the SPP process as a rolling three-year review: the commission reviews actual restoration costs from the prior year, partial current-year costs and projected next-year costs together to set recovery rates. He summarized the prudency concept and its timing: \"The key concept with prudency is that once it's determined in this clause, it's not subject to disallowance, except for fraud, perjury, or intentional withholding of key information,\" Futrell said, explaining that prudency is judged after spending occurs.

Walt Treueweiler, Public Counsel for the state of Florida, told the committee that while SPPs and utility hardening have reduced outage times and restoration costs, the existing approval and recovery process may not give the commission adequate authority to weigh large, long-term infrastructure trade-offs. Treueweiler said SPPs and cost-recovery mechanisms reduce costs when they work but leave IOU customers carrying a disproportionate share of near-term spending: \"These costs already fall heavily upon IOU customers primarily and... we would greatly appreciate any form of relief for Florida IOU customers who have been bearing the brunt of storm after storm,\" he said.

Treueweiler recounted that his office appealed aspects of the SPP regime to the Florida Supreme Court; the court concluded that the statute did not create the prudency standard Public Counsel sought at the plan-approval stage. He also told senators that independent audits of the IOUs’ storm-cost filings had improved reporting and excluded inappropriate costs, but he urged policymakers to consider whether ratepayers alone should shoulder future multi‑billion-dollar resilience investments if intense, frequent storms are the new normal.

Senators pressed both witnesses on alternatives. Senator Randolph Fine asked whether Public Counsel had shared these concerns earlier with bill sponsors; Treueweiler said his office had enforced the terms of enacted statutes and brought litigation because of how the commission applied the law. Senator Jason Pizzo asked whether Public Counsel would present draft statutory changes or recommendations; Treueweiler said his office would be willing to provide recommendations and engage with the legislature.

Why it matters: Committee members heard that while SPP programs are reducing outage times, the statutory design delegates prudency review to retrospective recovery proceedings. That sequencing limits the commission's ability at plan approval to weigh long-run cost‑benefit trade-offs across very large infrastructure portfolios. Public Counsel urged consideration of broader cost-sharing measures for state-level economic benefits from rapid restoration.

Next steps: Public Counsel volunteered to provide draft recommendations and work with legislators; PSC staff described the current rolling, three-year cost-recovery schedule and said the commission applies the statutory factors during SPP review and the separate prudency review during cost-recovery proceedings.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Committee on Regulated Industries 3/4/2025","oneSentenceSummary","Public Counsel and PSC staff told the Senate Regulated Industries Committee that storm protection plans are approved under a public-interest standard, while prudency is determined later during cost-recovery proceedings, constraining front-end review of large infrastructure spending.","taxTitle","Regulated Industries , Standing Committees, Senate, Legislative, Florida","taxId",26955,"location","Florida","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":81,"_47":82,"_49":83,"_51":84,"_53":85,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":86,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":87,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6298160,"Utilities tell Senate hardening, undergrounding and automation cut outage times after 2024 storms",3998,1376000,5374000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2505407-149efa75617e9469b1adf5cfff06308a&start=1376&end=5374","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2505407-149efa75617e9469b1adf5cfff06308a/thumbnail_1376000.jpg","/articles/6298160/Florida/Utilities-tell-Senate-hardening-undergrounding-and-automation-cut-outage-times-after-2024-storms","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6298160-e1bebf82c536d27a1014ffa0107906fe/orig.mp4?Expires=1771108746&Signature=WtwruEOPxbzamxfBIJO50Jcvo10ZGSx2i~NKiBWhezXdjxwr27aIUMd8cO1XR99df6nK3Rh~oJ2tfOu7LR2qlybXakejl7104GN3nS~S7JEOBf9Irtao2etWe0ixe-CC86zbyflRmc8AOcBKkTjaKiDbWPLzRVwWbJ3MiYJlllBv8t--cQb9Dx7NgMpcNWmRJuONUVcE4yOnJBw7TpZ~nCWK5lrO1qZktNW4zH5ogmBcIjWbY8zrvjmOHhMCB0lYitjRhIyepnNsRe5uTKcJaVYXkBquRi2acamip9~CaagvMJokvJtBBNBIyVxsAQxXFVmQvIbP0huwJ5Ncs3eEAQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Florida investor-owned utilities told the Senate Regulated Industries Committee that investments in transmission and distribution hardening, lateral undergrounding, vegetation management and grid automation materially reduced outage duration in the 2024 storm season.

Andy Pankratz, vice president of transmission and substations for Florida Power & Light, said his company restored 91% of affected customers by the end of the first full day after Hurricane Helene and fully restored service in four days. \"Every storm is different and those two storms certainly brought some unique challenges to us,\" Pankratz said, adding that lateral undergrounding in their pilot and subsequent program delivered much better performance in 2024.

Brian Lloyd, general manager for power grid operations at Duke Energy, said Duke’s self-optimizing (self-healing) grid technology limited the scale of outages by sectionalizing feeders. He told the committee that hardened transmission structures and hardened feeders suffered zero structure failures during the three major storms this season: \"0 hardened transmission structures broke during any of these 3 major storms.\" Lloyd said self-healing technology spared more than 200,000 customers from outages during Hurricane Milton and that Duke expects to continue automating its grid through 2026.

Chip Whitworth, vice president of electric delivery for Tampa Electric Company (TECO), described substation flood damage from Helene and Milton and outlined TECO’s SPP filing for additional surge- and substation-hardening measures. \"We’ve identified 500 switchgear that are in evacuation zones A, B, and C, that are not submersible type,\" Whitworth said; TECO told the committee it plans targeted replacements and transmission-switch automation to speed restorations.

Kevin Walls, regional operations manager for Chesapeake Utilities, described his company’s smaller footprint in Florida and its shift to multi-year inspection cycles, drone-assisted pole inspections and a four-year vegetation cycle. Chesapeake reported that when Hurricane Helene struck an unexpectedly different sector, crews pivoted and restored about 96–97% of customers within a roughly 16-hour window.

Committee members pressed utilities for more granular public information. Senator Jason Pizzo asked whether municipalities could see when they would be included in lateral-hardening work; FPL said it could provide feeder- and lateral-level maps and data. Senator Jeff Brandes and other members queried companies about cumulative spending on resilience programs; utilities said they would provide more detailed figures after the hearing. In the hearing, Tampa Electric reported a year-to-date lateral-undergrounding figure of about $478 million; FPL stated later in the session that its SPP and related recovery work totaled about $4.9 billion to date (companies supplied these amounts during the question-and-answer portion).

Utility witnesses described mutual-assistance staging and logistics as a critical operational improvement. Duke’s Todd Fountain, general manager of emergency preparedness, summarized staging lessons learned since 2017 and described base camps, prepositioned inventories and multi-agency drills that cut mobilization time and helped share resources across utilities during back-to-back storms.

Why it matters: Utilities told senators that the combination of feeder hardening, undergrounding of vulnerable laterals, improved vegetation management and automation reduced the scale and duration of blackouts and improved the speed of recovery for schools, businesses and critical infrastructure. Companies said the trade-off is substantial near-term capital spending that is reflected in future rate proceedings or storm-recovery surcharges.

Looking ahead, utilities committed to providing more detailed maps and spending breakdowns to committee staff. Several senators urged clearer public reporting about which substations and feeders are scheduled for the next phase of hardening and asked the Public Service Commission and utilities to make that planning information accessible to cities and counties.","Florida investor-owned utilities told the Senate Regulated Industries Committee that investments in feeder hardening, lateral undergrounding, vegetation management and grid automation shortened restoration times in the 2024 storm season; companies and legislators also discussed maps, spending and workforce staging.","actionData","errors"]

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Public Counsel warns SPP approvals lack front-end prudency checks; urges broader discussion of who pays

Utilities tell Senate hardening, undergrounding and automation cut outage times after 2024 storms