JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has restored power to essentially all of its more than 480,000 customers impacted by Hurricane Nicole less than 24 hours after the historic storm exited Florida.
“I want to thank all FPL customers for their patience and understanding during this unusual late-season storm. We know the last several weeks have been stressful as many are still rebuilding from the catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Ian, and we know the important role electricity plays in the return to normalcy,” said Eric Silagy, chairman and CEO of FPL. “Our workforce of 13,000 strong has been unrelenting in getting the lights back on. I want to extend my gratitude and appreciation to the FPL team and to the crews who came in from around the country in mutual assistance to support this swift and safe restoration effort for Florida.”
Even before Hurricane Nicole – the first November hurricane to make landfall in Florida since 1985 – made landfall near Vero Beach early Thursday morning as a Category 1 storm, the company had pre-positioned the necessary workforce, materials and equipment for a rapid restoration. With power essentially restored to all customers affected, FPL is now releasing its workforce who supported the restoration effort, including mutual assistance from 16 states.
Storm-hardened system benefits customers during Hurricane Nicole
For nearly two decades, FPL has invested significantly in building a stronger, smarter and more storm-resilient energy grid. Preliminary assessments following Hurricane Nicole confirmed the resiliency of FPL’s storm-hardened energy grid:
- Underground power lines: FPL is working to systematically underground neighborhood power lines, which are traditionally located in backyards and susceptible to trees and other wind-blown debris. Preliminary data confirms underground neighborhood power lines performed 15 times better than overhead neighborhood power lines.
- Smart grid technology: The tens of thousands of smart grid devices installed along FPL’s energy grid helped the company restore service to customers before it was safe to send crews into the field and helped to avoid more than 150,000 outages during Hurricane Nicole, according to preliminary data.
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 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