Everglades High School history teacher Stephanie Nagel arrived home on Wednesday and, once again, her clocks were off.

It was another sign of the persistent problems she and her neighbors have had with Florida Power & Light's electric service to the Mirror Lake Estates neighborhood in Plantation.

Since she moved into the neighborhood in 1974, temporary electrical outages have nagged her and her neighbors, but things got worse after the hurricanes of 2005. Then, equipment failures kept their lights off for two weeks and, Nagel believes, some equipment has still not been repaired.

Nagel, 62, who has been a community activist for years, was chosen by her elderly neighbors to speak out. She sent letters over the years to FPL and the Public Service Commission seeking permanent solutions. In May, she appeared at quality-of-service hearings the PSC was conducting in preparation for FPL's rate case. The company is seeking a 30 percent base rate increase, or about $1.25 billion more per year.

BIASED PRAISES

FPL's customer service vice president acknowledged in testimony before the PSC Wednesday that the company had lined up speakers for that and other hearings from customers who agreed to speak favorably about their electric service. The customers, many who worked for nonprofits that had received FPL contributions, were told to arrive early and get their name on a list. FPL employees often gave them a reminder call.

Nagel didn't get one of those calls. ``I waited for an hour and a half for my turn and I kept hearing people with all these praises for FPL. People saying, `raise my rates.' But, I'm thinking, they don't live in my neighborhood,'' she told the Herald/Times.

After she spoke, Commissioner Nathan Skop handed her his card and told her to call if she continued to have problems.

FPL told her in June that vines and vegetation crowding power lines miles away were causing some disruptions. ``They admitted to me that they were supposed to replace their equipment after the hurricanes and haven't done it,'' Nagel recalled.

She has been keeping a list of the times she loses power. In September alone, she has had four blackouts and seven momentary power outages. In October, ``there's only been three outages. That's a good month.''

UNDESERVING

Nagel said she and her neighbors are not among the people who commend FPL for its reliability.

``I don't think FPL deserves a raise,'' she said. ``I think they should reduce my bill. The money shouldn't be going to executive salaries either. We pay them. If this is an issue for me, it's really hard on the elderly people in my neighborhood when these outages hit. Do you know how hard it is for them to keep changing all their clocks?''

Fed up, Nagel called Skop on Wednesday and left a message on his office answering machine. On Thursday, Skop called FPL to task.

``Wouldn't it be more constructive to resolve people's problems than to develop these relationships in the community?'' Skop asked Marlene Santos, FPL's vice president of customer service. ``I see something like this and frankly, I'm speechless. It's embarrassing.''

By the end of the day, FPL attorney John Butler said the company would provide commissioners with an update on Nagel's problem. Skop urged them to have an FPL executive meet with her to show their determination to solve the problem. ``This is more than a minor blip,'' he said.

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com

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