The Public Service Commission, which regulates investor-owned utilities, on Tuesday set into motion its plan “to review electric utility hurricane preparedness and restoration actions during the 2017 hurricane season,” the panel said in a press release.
Amid continuing fallout from the deaths of residents of a Broward County nursing home after Hurricane Irma, a key state senator has filed a bill that would seek to prevent lengthy air conditioning outages at nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s new chief financial officer, said Wednesday he is starting a political committee but hasn’t decided if he will run for the Cabinet office next year.
Landlines are quickly going the way of rotary-dial phones in Florida. A state report released this week showed that large numbers of Floridians continue unplugging the types of phone lines that were a fixture of life for decades. Instead, they are reaching into their pockets for mobile phones or using internet technology to chat with friends and family.
As of last Friday’s deadline, three more former lawmakers applied for the now-empty seat on the Public Service Commission vacated when Jimmy Patronis stepped down to become the state’s new CFO. Applying for the seat were former state Sen. Greg Evers, a Baker (Okaloosa County) Republican; former state Rep. Dave Murzin, a Pensacola Republican; and former state Rep. Ritch Workman, a Melbourne Republican, according to a list released late Friday by the Public Service Commission Nominating Council.
Eighteen people have applied for three openings on the state’s Public Service Commission, according to a list released Tuesday. Tuesday was the deadline to apply for the seats now held by Commissioners Art Graham and Ronald Brisé, which are up at the end of the year. Both men have reapplied for their positions; they were last reappointed by Gov. Rick Scott in 2013.
Senate Majority Leader Wilton Simpson is putting the state’s Public Service Commission on notice. In a letter Thursday, Simpson and House Speaker Richard Corcoran scolded PSC Chairwoman Julie Brown over reports that the commission is considering barring members of the Summertree community from testifying at an upcoming proceeding. “For several years, we have voiced our serious concerns about the high prices being charged and the quality of water being received by these citizens,” the two men wrote in the letter.…
