Please note that a conference call to discuss Florida ILEC and IOU Pole Inspections has been scheduled for Thursday, September 13, 2007, at 10:00 a.m.

To participate by phone, please call 1(888)808-6959 and type in the following access code when prompted: 4136206.

PURPOSE: Commission Order Nos. PSC-06-0168-PAA-TL and PSC-06-0144-PAA-EI required Florida ILECs and IOUs to perform inspections of their wood pole inventories.  Companies were ordered to submit plans detailing the proposed scope and methodologies of inspection.  Each company is required to inspect 100 percent of its pole inventory every eight years, and report annually on the progress of the program.

Reviewing company reports allowed staff to discern three areas of concern to be discussed during the call:

Compliance:  All companies have submitted reports and are in basic compliance with the intent of the orders.  However, there are differences in the completeness, form, and formatting of the reported information.

Information Not Ordered But Needed:  Review of the first annual reports revealed that additional information beneficial to staff’s fuller understanding of the inspection programs had not been specifically identified in the Commission order.  Specifically, the following is recommended for inclusion in the next annual reports:  the numbers of poles failing inspection and designated for replacement; the number of replacements made to date; the plan for replacement of the balance of poles failing inspection; the projected number of poles to be inspected in the next annual inspection cycle; and the cumulative number and percentage of poles inspected to date in the current eight-year cycle.

Information Ordered But Not Needed:  Specific information about the cause of failure for each pole is required by the order.  Staff realizes it is important for each company to gather and retain this data, but does not consider it necessary to provide this level of detail in the annual report.

The objective of the call will be to explain the above proposed changes and reach consensus in these areas. A staff recommendation modifying the Commission’s previous orders would be presented for approval in the near future.