Utilities

Lee County Utilities has rescinded a precautionary Boil Water Notice for 99% of the Lee County Utilities service area; less than 1% remains on a boil water notice.

Precautionary Boil Water Notice lifted for communities off Winkler Road in South Fort Myers

A waterline break prompted Fort Myers to issue the alert for a section of the city around The Forum and Treeline Avenue near I-75.

Lee County Utilities issues precautionary boil water notice for select communities off Winkler Road in South Fort Myers

A precautionary boil water notice was issued Sunday for an area of Fort Myers near I-75 and will remain in effect until a bacteriological survey shows that the water is safe to drink. A line break that prompted the alert was repaired by Sunday afternoon.

The analysis uses data gathered from utility companies around the country and defines a major power outage as one impacting more than 50,000 customers. The criteria for a weather event vary from place to place. Climate Central finds that 58% of weather-related outages were caused by severe weather, such as high winds, rain, and thunderstorms. Another 22% is attributed to winter weather, 15% to hurricanes and tropical storms and a smaller number of outages could be attributed to extreme heat and wildfires.

Environmentalists are concerned over a series of bills aimed at promoting consumer choice by preempting local government control of energy-related issues. Senate Bill 1128 is one of them. It would stop local governments from being able to restrict or ban utilities from using certain fuel sources like natural gas.

Florida Power & Light, Gulf Power, Duke Energy Florida and Tampa Electric Co. filed documents at the state Public Service Commission pushing back against a proposed emergency rule change that would halt disconnections for customers who can’t pay their bills.

Earthjustice, an environmental law nonprofit, filed a petition Tuesday asking the Public Service Commission for an emergency order to suspend disconnections for overdue customers.

A scarcity of freshwater near Turkey Point has led to another legal clash between Miami-Dade County environmental regulators and Florida Power &...