FCC, PSCs Prepare for Hurricane Matthew

by Hurricane Matthew are exempt from the restrictions of the Commission’s ex parte rules,” it said. The Florida Public Service Commission said it’s warning consumers and monitoring investor-owned electric utilities (IOUs) as they prepare for Hurricane Matthew. “The PSC is urging families to prepare now for Hurricane Matthew, a severe storm affecting Florida’s eastern coast,” PSC Chairman Julie Brown said in a news release Thursday. “State offices, as well as other governmental agencies and businesses, are closed in 26 counties, so people have time to prepare and get ready.” The PSC will remain open because its Tallahassee headquarters isn’t in a high-impact or evacuation zone, a spokeswoman emailed. “We assist at the Emergency Operations Center manning [Emergency Support Function No. 12], which relates to energy. During and following the storm we provide hourly updates on the status of statewide electric outages. Our electric IOUs are ready to immediately address storm impacts.” The Georgia PSC “will have two staff members in the State Operations Center who will receive information on outages from the utilities, and then pass that on the SOC,” a commission spokesman emailed. Utilities also will have personnel in the SOC, he said. The agency will be open Friday since its Atlanta office is 300 miles from the coast and not expected to be affected by the hurricane, but main offices will be closed over the long weekend, he said. The South Carolina PSC, also located inland in Columbus, closed Wednesday “until further notice” under executive order by Gov. Nikki Haley (R), said its website. The FCC said Wednesday its operations center will be open all weekend for the storm (see 1610050062). Broadcasters should prepare, too, an industry lawyer blogged (see 1610060013).