Nelson Asks Major Industry Providers to Give Floridians Rebates, Late-Fee Relief Due to Irma

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla, urged cable, phone and internet companies to provide rebates for service interruptions and a 60-day waiver from late fees for victims of Hurricane Irma. He made the request in a letter Thursday to the CEOs of AT&T, CenturyLink, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Enterprises, Frontier Communications, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon. “I’ve been heartened by the many stories of Floridians helping Floridians as I crisscross the state to survey the damage," wrote the Commerce Committee ranking member. "I ask that you follow their example and do all you can to ease the burden on those suffering from the storm.” Charter said its crews "are working around the clock to restore service" and sought to ease concerns. "We recognize the extraordinary impact Irma has had on the lives of many Floridians and are committed to working with customers to provide appropriate credits," it said. "Customers who have suffered damage to their homes will not be charged for any equipment damaged or lost during the storm, and we have also suspended collections in impacted areas." The FCC reported Thursday public safety answering points affected by Irma dropped from 29 to 21 in Florida and from five to one in Georgia, with two still affected in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The number of cellsites out of service was 1.2 percent in Alabama (up from 0.6 percent), 13.4 percent in Florida (down from 18 percent), 2.2 percent in Georgia (down from 5.3 percent), 6.3 percent in Puerto Rico (down from 10 percent) and 54 percent in the USVI (down from 55 percent). At least 8.26 million cable and wireline subscribers (up from 8.19 million) were without service in affected areas of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. There are 2,188 non-mobile switching centers out (up from 1,040) in those three states. One fewer TV station is off-air, at nine now, and radio stations "out of service" fell to 30 from 39. Florida's Public Service Commission Wednesday asked residents to "be patient" as "electric utilities work to restore power." SiriusXM "never dealt with two Category 4 hurricanes within a week, which has just been devastating for the country," so it's too early to gauge how “material” the impact to the company will be from Harvey and Irma, CEO Jim Meyer told a Goldman Sachs investor conference Wednesday. Harvey destroyed a “huge number” of cars in Texas, and “I suspect we're going to see the same thing in Florida” from Irma, “and so there will be a transition of the fleet,” he said.