FMPA Weekly
A weekly e-newsletter for FMPA members
Oct. 15, 2018
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LAST WEEK
Hurricane Michael
Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle last Wednesday near Mexico Beach as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. Michael was the strongest storm to hit the Panhandle since at least 1851 when record-keeping began, according to the National Hurricane Center. The peak outages were reported as 398,741 on Thursday, with 121,873 from municipals, 115,151 from cooperatives and 161,717 from investor-owned utilities. Among municipals in the area, Tallahassee lost power to nearly 90% of its customers while Blountstown, Chattahoochee, Havana and Quincy all had 100% of customers without power due to transmission outages as well as distribution system damage. As of Monday morning, Tallahassee reportedly had 9% of customers without power, Blountstown had 100% without power, Chattahoochee had 74% without power, Havana was fully restored and Quincy had 84% without power. Before the weekend, reports of mutual aid crews totaling 440 people from 14 states were assisting with the municipal restoration efforts, plus tree resources, including another 100 personnel and trucks, were also secured. The final counts could be higher.
FMPA Assists with Hurricane Michael Recovery Efforts
Jim Arntz and Mike McCleary traveled to Florida’s Panhandle last week to assist with recovery from Hurricane Michael. Ian Beason and Cairo Vanegas traveled to the Panhandle on Sunday. Jim was stationed in Chattahoochee to assist with damage assessment and FMEA documentation, and Mike was stationed in Havana to help direct recovery efforts, plus he visited Blountstown, Chattahoochee and Quincy. Ian was in Chattahoochee on Sunday, and Cairo was in Quincy. Jim returned to Orlando on Sunday, and Mike is currently planning to stay in the Panhandle until Tuesday. FMPA’s Public Relations Department has also been providing assistance to Chattahoochee by managing their Facebook page. FMPA’s Tallahassee office has power restored, so it reopened Monday.
Debris Removal Services
FMPA awarded the Debris Removal bid last week to DRC Emergency Services and Southern Disaster Recovery. Documents related to the bid are available to download from the Portal. Contact: Sharon Samuels
Catering Services for Catastrophic Event
Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) gave permission last week for other municipal electric utilities to piggyback on OUC’s agreement for Catering Services for On-site Catastrophic Events. The document is located on FMPA’s Document Portal. Contact: Sharon Samuels
Tallahassee Membership in FMPA
The City of Tallahassee is interested in re-joining FMPA. Rob McGarrah, General Manager – Electric for Tallahassee, signed the FMPA Interlocal Agreement last Monday. The city’s membership application will be an action item for the FMPA Board of Directors meeting on Thursday. Tallahassee was an FMPA member from the Agency’s inception in 1978 until 1991. Contact: Jacob Williams
Executive Search Consultant RFP
FMPA issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) last Monday for executive search consulting services to conduct a search for FMPA’s next Chief Operating Officer. The deadline for responses is Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. The RPF is available for download on FMPA.com Contact: Sharon Adams
Lineman Roundtable
The Lineman Roundtable originally scheduled for last Thursday was cancelled to allow participants to focus on Hurricane Michael. Contact: Sharon Samuels
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THIS WEEK
Cane Island Power Park
Cane Island Unit 3 is back online Monday following a scheduled maintenance outage. Cane Island Unit 2 is scheduled to be taken offline Monday afternoon for a scheduled maintenance outage. Contact: David Schumann
Policy Makers Liaisons Committee
FMPA’s Policy Makers Liaisons Committee meets Wednesday at FMPA’s Orlando office. The start time for the business meeting is 1 p.m. Lunch will be served noon. The committee will hear a report from FMPA’s General Manager as well as two information items: 1) roundtable discussion by policy makers on the most important electric issue in their communities, and 2) a discussion on electric deregulation. The agenda package is available on the Portal. Contact: Mark McCain
Board of Directors
FMPA’s Board of Directors meets Thursday at 9 a.m. in the Board room. The Board will consider six action items: 1) Fiscal 2019 Goals, 2) St. Lucie debt strategy, 3) restarting the Pooled Loan Program, 4) Florida Municipal Solar Project Charter, 5) easement agreement for an urban cell phone tower, and 6) Tallahassee becoming a member of FMPA. The full agenda package is available on the Portal. Contact: Jacob Williams
Executive Committee
The ARP Executive Committee meets Thursday in the Board room at 9:30 a.m., or immediately following the Board of Directors. The committee will consider two action items: 1) Resolution 2018-EC5 – spending authority modification for COO vacancy, and 2) Rate Schedule B-1 for fiscal 2019. The full agenda package is available on the Portal. Contact: Jacob Williams
Member City Visit
Cairo Vanegas is scheduled to travel to Winter Park on Friday for a member city visit.
Social Media and Text Message Archiving Survey
The deadline to participate in a survey about social media and text message archiving has been extended until Friday. An email with a link to the online survey was sent Oct. 4 by Jeff Grainger to communicators at municipal utilities. The questionnaire should take less than five minutes to complete. Results will be shared during a discussion of this topic at the next Public Power Communicator’s Roundtable, which will be held Oct. 23 in Kissimmee. Contact: Mark McCain
Grid Security Conference
Carter Manucy travels to Las Vegas on Monday through Friday to attend the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s Grid Security Conference. The conference provides an opportunity for cyber and physical security experts to share emerging security trends, promote reliability of the bulk power system through training and education, and discuss policy advancements and lessons learned in the electricity industry.
FSEC Board Meeting
Susan Schumann attends the Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) Board meeting Friday.
All-Requirements Project Weekly Load Statistics
The weekly update of the All-Requirements Project historical load graph has been posted on the Portal. The graph is updated through Oct. 14. Contact: Jim Arntz
Special Dates
Congratulations to Mark McCain, who celebrates 32 years with FMPA on Saturday, Oct. 20.
Congratulations to Liyuan Woerner, who celebrates 10 years with FMPA on Saturday, Oct. 20.
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COMING UP
Florida Women in Energy Leadership Forum
The annual Florida Women in Energy Leadership Forum will be held Nov. 7-8 in Destin, Florida. Jacob Williams will participate on a panel discussing “Innovation, Technology, and a Better Future.” The forum costs $475 to attend, and registration is available online.
Meter Tech Roundtable
The next Meter Tech Roundtable will be held in Bartow on Nov. 13 at 10 a.m. The Meter Tech Roundtable provides an opportunity for meter maintenance staff to discuss operating practices, equipment, tools, safety, training and more. The roundtable is open to meter technicians, meter shop staff and manager, and utility staff members. Registration is free, and lunch will be provided. Contact: Sharon Samuels
Treasure Coast Energy Center Tour
FMPA will host a tour of Treasure Coast Energy Center in Fort Pierce on Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. The unit is scheduled to be in its fall outage at that time. Members can contact Sue Utley if they are interested in attending. FMPA’s governing board meetings will be held the next day in Orlando.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
PSC Postpones Hearings on Vero Beach Utility Purchase and Other Matters
With Hurricane Michael threatening the Tallahassee area last week, the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) postponed a hearing scheduled for last Tuesday on a proposed deal in which Florida Power & Light would buy Vero Beach’s municipal electric utility and charge FPL rates to Vero Beach customers. The hearing has been postponed until Oct. 18 at 9 a.m. The Commission granted approvals June 5 for the long-discussed deal, but challenges to the decision caused regulators to nullify their decision and hold a hearing. The commission on Monday also postponed three meetings scheduled for last Thursday. Those meetings included a discussion of electric utilities’ Ten-Year Site Plans and a hearing on a proposal by Tampa Electric Co. to recoup money from customers for five solar-energy projects. The PSC will take up the site plans and the Tampa Electric solar issue on Oct. 29.
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FMPA Weekly is published by FMPA for employees and governing boards of FMPA member utilities. Questions or comments about this newsletter may be directed to Jeff Grainger or Lisa Rienhardt in FMPA’s Public Relations Department.
Want more background on the names and terms used in this newsletter? Check out FMPA’s Glossary, which features some of the most frequently mentioned committees, companies, places and terms, or contact the person named in each FMPA story to learn more.
Have a question, comment or story idea for the newsletter? FMPA welcomes your feedback at any time. Contact: Jeff Grainger or Lisa Rienhardt
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Florida Municipal Power Agency
8553 Commodity Circle
Orlando, FL 32819-9002
Tel 407 355-7767
Fax 407 355-5794
www.fmpa.com
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