Edison Electric Institute honored New Orleans-based Entergy Corporation with its prestigious Emergency Assistance Award for "providing swift and major assistance" to Florida Power & Light Company during restoration efforts after Hurricane Irene hit Florida in October of 1999.

EEI commended the company for its model performance during particularly harsh and trying circumstances.

"FPL and other utilities in the southern U.S. have reciprocal agreements to assist each other in times of natural disasters such as hurricanes and ice storms," said FPL Senior Vice President of Power Systems Armando Olivera. FPL's own crews returned recently from assisting Entergy to restore power to its customers after devastating ice storms.

"We congratulate and admire Entergy crews for working long hours under intense conditions to assist our employees in restoring power to 1.7 million customers after Hurricane Irene," added Mr. Olivera. "FPL and Entergy crews have a terrific working relationship. Our strong teamwork efforts have proved successful to the many customers who suffered outages during Hurricane Irene."

Last January, FPL received EEI's Emergency Response Award for its restoration efforts during Hurricane Irene. The award recognizes companies for outstanding efforts to restore customer service knocked out by extreme weather conditions or other natural events.

FPL Group and Entergy announced in July that they have agreed to combine in a merger of equals to create the largest power company in the nation. The new company will be the largest U.S. electric utility, the largest power producer and the second largest nuclear power generator.

Florida Power & Light is the principal subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. , one of the nation's largest providers of electricity-related services with annual revenues of more than $6 billion. The company serves 3.8 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC., FPL Group's U.S. and international energy generating subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Information is available on the Internet at www.fplgroup.com.

SOURCE: Florida Power & Light Company