Florida utility chief commutes by 'copter (for real)

[ensho]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/74956.html


It's not just banks: Florida utility chief commutes by 'copter


Florida Power & Light, embroiled in a controversial hearing to raise electric rates, says part of the 30 percent increase would pay for a new $31 million corporate jet to replace a 10-year-old jet in its three-aircraft fleet.

FPL executives hastened to explain that the bill for the new jet would be offset by trading in the old one for $18 million, leaving customers responsible for $13 million of the tab.

A handful of FPL executives are allowed to use the corporate jet for personal use, company officials said. Among them is CEO Armando Olivera, who told regulators that he used the plane for the Tallahassee hearing and often uses the company helicopter to travel between his hometown of Miami and his company's headquarters in Juno Beach.

When asked if he used the company helicopter to get to work, he said, "not all the time, but generally.''

-snip-

The newspapers obtained e-mails sent between February 2008 and February 2009 that show FPL attorney Natalie Smith repeatedly requested and received the Personal Identification Numbers, or PINs, of the state-provided BlackBerry phones of PSC staff members, as well as the PIN to Commissioner Lisa Edgar's BlackBerry phone.
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bunch of punks living high on the hog

[Arctic Dave]

1. How does one even justify this in such a small state.

Plus it has so many airports.

[ensho]

2. they are important men, don't you know. said sarcastically

nt

[ddeclue]

4. Florida a "small" state?

You must have us confused with Delaware...(which I think is actually smaller than Brevard County Florida.)

Florida is 367 miles North to South give or take from the Georgia border to where I95 ends in Miami - from there it's still over 140 miles out to Key West over Highway 1.

Going from east to west, Florida is nearly as long from Jacksonville to the border with Alabama along I-10.

Only Georgia is geographically larger east of the Mississippi and because Florida is not physically compact, it actually takes longer to drive from one end of Florida to the other if one were to drive from Key West to the Alabama border.

Population wise, Florida is #4 after NY, CA and TX.

Small, I don't think so.

That said, why doesn't this idiot just move closer to work, get an apartment in town or telecommute. Juno Beach is about 70 miles from his house. If he's the boss, why not work from home?

:eyes:

[Arctic Dave]

5. Compared to where I live, it's tiny.

I drive two and half hours to visit my parents and I don't even leave the Kenai Peninsula.
Plus they have huge interstate highway systems. My wife used to drive 62 mile back and forth each day to her job for a hell of a lot less then this blood sucker.

[NYC_SKP]

3. And to think there's talk of taxing us for our work cellphones as a "perk"...

This copter use for personal use ought to outrage the shareholders and customers.

[Edweird]

6. They are doing this while freezing hiring and starving their contractors to death.

I know because I work for them. My company renegotiated our contract less than a year ago and they really hurt us bad. My income got cut in half.