An electrical subcontractor for Florida Power & Light Co. has lost his license and two others face license revocation for not getting city permits before installing electricity-saving devices on homes in Broward County.

The “on-call” boxes, which work like appliance timers, allow FPL to turn off power to air conditioners, water heaters and pool pumps during times of peak demand. In turn, customers get a discount on their monthly bills.

“It’s a very simple device, very safe,” FPL spokesman Dale Thomas said. “It allows us to cycle power on and off, which ultimately helps us avoid the need to build another power plant.”

Thomas said the company, through a group of subcontractors, has installed 53,000 of the devices in Broward and 210,000 systemwide. The company randomly checks the work of its subcontractors, and many of the boxes have been inspected by city inspectors, where permits were pulled.

Anyone who has an on-call box and is not sure whether it was inspected should call the city or county building department or FPL’s information number, 1-800-DIAL FPL.

FPL has a goal of adding about 325 of the devices a week, Thomas said.

The three contractors — Meli Electric of Sunrise and Randazzo Electric and Langer Electric of Miami — fell into trouble when they understood that they had received permission to install the devices in some cities before pulling permits.

The installation takes less than an hour, but some homes cannot accept the devices, one contractor said. Rather than pulling a permit for every job and then finding that the device could not be installed, the contractors installed the devices on homes where they could be installed, then got the permits.

“My clients had received permission to do that,” said Mark Bogen, an attorney who represents all three electricians facing license revocation.

But when the city of Coral Springs complained about the practice to the Broward Central Examining Board of Electricians, all three contractors were brought up for disciplinary action.

“We’re talking in the area of thousands of permits,” said board Chairman James Weldon, business manager for the local electricians union. “There was never any intention on the part of these contractors to pull a permit. They all make a big thing of it, like it’s so difficult to pull permits. That’s simply not true.”

Rick Meli, whose electrician’s license was revoked last month, said he has been working on a subcommittee of the Broward Board of Rules and Appeals to find a solution to the problem. He said the board has granted a group permit that would allow the FPL subcontractors to install the devices, then notify city inspectors to inspect the work.

“After that’s approved, then we lose our license,” he said. “The whole thing has been a nightmare.”

Bogen said he would appeal Meli’s license revocation in Broward Circuit Court. A disciplinary hearing against Donald Forbes, the master electrician at Randazzo Electric, was postponed on Wednesday. Disciplinary action also is pending against Langer Electric.

INFORMATION

Anyone who has an on-call box and is not sure whether it was inspected should call:

–The building department for your city.

–The Broward County building department at 765-5161.

–FPL’s information number, 1-800-DIAL-FPL.