Poinsettia Heights residents are just looking for a little power, but no one is sure where the problem is.

For the time being, about 55 homes and residents have been experiencing plenty of trouble with outages, according to Mike Vonder Meulen, president of the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood's community association.

“We have residents who’ve been experiencing outages almost on a weekly basis,” Vonder Meulen said. “On a nice day, the power will all of a sudden go out for hours.”

And with it goes a neighborhood full of appliances, computers, and maybe worst of all in the South Florida summer, air conditioning.

For resident Joyce Reynolds, who operates a management consultant business out of her home, her power outage problems began in August 2008.

“The power goes out – [I] call FPL on their automated line and somebody says, ‘We’ll be there,’” Reynolds explained. “So the power comes back on. Then, in an hour or so, it’s out again and the whole thing starts over.”

FPL spokeswoman Sharon Bennett acknowledged the irregularities in the Poinsettia neighborhood and said the utility’s representatives have visited with Vonder Meulen and others. Bennett also said FPL representatives have arranged to attend another homeowners association meeting in September or October.

“The people in charge of the system’s reliability will talk about how best to make this work,” Bennett said.

Vonder Meulen said the problem stems from residents’ efforts to conceal power lines using landscaping, and others that refuse to let FPL onto their property to trim tree limbs that could interfere with power flow.

“There are people here who are trying to hide the ugly power lines by planting trees, and they put in invasive, fast-growing types like bamboo,” he said. “The branches put weight on the lines and short them out. Then we have residents who won’t allow FPL to come onto their property and trim their trees.”

Vonder Meulen said the community association is preparing to put pressure on owners who deny FPL the access it needs to trim tree branches.

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