Earlier today, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a stipulation and consent agreement with Florida Power and Light Company (FPL) that included a $25 million penalty to be paid By FPL to resolve potential violations of mandatory Reliability Standards related to the February 26, 2008 Florida Blackout. That event resulted in the loss of 3,650 MW of customer load, and left some noninterruptible customers without power for more than two hours.
The agreement, which contains one of the largest civil penalties ever approved By FERC, is also the first settlement resulting from a reliability investigation headed By FERC enforcement staff, and follows FERC’s public announcement that it—rather than the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) or the Florida Reliability Coordinating Council, the two entities usually responsible for the enforcement of Reliability Standards in Florida—would investigate the blackout.