JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has restored power to more than 75% of customers affected so far by Hurricane Nicole.
FPL is now moving additional crews northward to follow the path of the storm, which made landfall early Thursday near Vero Beach as a Category 1 hurricane before slicing through the state throughout the day. Packing damaging winds and heavy rain, Hurricane Nicole is only the third hurricane to ever make landfall in Florida in November and the first since 1985.
As of 5 p.m., FPL has restored power to approximately 352,000 customers with approximately 103,000 customers without service. The outage numbers are expected to increase until Nicole exits the state later today. The company has dedicated approximately 13,000 men and women to the restoration effort, including mutual assistance from 16 states.
“We are urging customers to continue to keep safety their top priority as Nicole remains a threat to North Florida,” said Eric Silagy, chairman and CEO of FPL. “We recognize this storm developed uncharacteristically late in the season and know many of our customers are fatigued by Hurricane Ian. Rest assured our crews will not stop until every customer’s power is restored.”
Initial assessments confirmed FPL’s storm-hardened energy grid performed as expected during Nicole. As was the case during Hurricane Ian, underground neighborhood lines performed significantly better than overhead neighborhood lines during Nicole. Smart grid technology also helped avoid tens of thousands of customer outages, according to initial data.
Estimated times of restoration
In the wake of a hurricane, FPL knows customers need as much information as possible in order to make decisions for their families. Every hurricane is different, but FPL’s goal is to provide customers more accurate information faster than ever before.
In the southern part of Florida, where Nicole made landfall, power has essentially been restored throughout Broward, Collier, Hendry, Lee and Miami-Dade counties. By the end of today, FPL estimates power will be restored to 95% of affected customers in Charlotte, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Highlands and Palm Beach counties. Estimated times of restoration for the remainder of FPL’s service area will be announced Friday.
FPLAir One surveying communities
FPL is leveraging technology to quickly put eyes on damage. Damage assessment teams, including drone teams, have fanned out across the portions of the state already impacted by Nicole.
FPLAir One – which became the first-ever, large civil Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Operation in support of a hurricane during Ian – began its first mission in the aftermath of Nicole on Thursday afternoon. Quickly putting eyes on damage enables FPL to send the right crews and the right equipment to the right places to restore power safely and as quickly as possible.
What FPL is doing
As it’s safe to do so, FPL will continue restoring power leveraging:
- Approximately 13,000 personnel dedicated to supporting the restoration
- Staging sites in the most affected areas
- Pre-positioned equipment and supplies
- Coordination with county and state emergency operations centers
Immediately after a storm, FPL knows if main power lines have been damaged. If customers believe their power is out for this reason, there is no need to contact FPL. Customers should call 911 or FPL at 1-800-4OUTAGE (1-800-468-8243) only to report dangerous situations such as downed power lines or sparking electrical equipment. Customers can report an outage at FPL.com/Outage or on the FPL app.
Additional resources
Customers can download the FPL app for on-the-go, instant and secure access to their accounts. Customers can report or get the latest information on an outage. The app is available for download in the iOS App Store and Google Play. To quickly download the FPL app, text the word “App” to MyFPL (69375). Customers also can sign up for storm updates by texting the word “Join” to MyFPL (69375).
How to stay informed
FPL communicates restoration information to customers frequently through the news media and the following resources:
- FPL website: FPL.com
- Twitter: twitter.com/insideFPL
- Facebook: facebook.com/FPLconnect
- FPL Power Tracker: FPL.com/powertracker
- FPL Power Tracker (Northwest Florida): FPL.com/mypowertracker
- FPL app: Download from the App Store or Google Play, or text the word “App” to MyFPL (69375)
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Florida Power & Light Company
As America’s largest electric utility, Florida Power & Light Company serves more customers and sells more power than any other utility, providing clean, affordable, reliable electricity to approximately 5.8 million accounts, or more than 12 million people. FPL operates one of the cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S. and in 2021 won the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Award for the sixth time in the last seven years. The company received the top ranking in the southern U.S. among large electric providers, according to J.D. Power’s 2021 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM and 2021 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction StudySM. The company was also recognized in 2020 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Escalent for the seventh consecutive year. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity. NextEra Energy is ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune’s 2022 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies” and recognized on Fortune’s 2021 list of companies that “Change the World.” NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
