JUNO BEACH, Fla. – With National Arbor Day approaching on April 30, Florida Power & Light Company is highlighting the important work of the company’s team of specially trained arborists, who help ensure reliable service for customers while caring for the health of trees.
Trees and vegetation blowing into overhead power lines are a leading cause of power flickers and outages. To keep lines clear so the company can keep the lights on for its customers, FPL’s trimming program is guided by arborists who understand the many species of trees in Florida and make sure pruning follows science-based standards to preserve the long-term health of trees.
“When we have to touch a tree, we are doing it in such a way that the tree can heal from it as it would naturally if it were to drop its own limbs,” says FPL Senior Arborist Sharon Bruce. “We want to be good stewards of the environment, good stewards of the trees that we’re having to trim and good stewards of our customers’ property.”
Sharon and other arborists are featured in a new 2-minute video that explains the work of FPL tree specialists and the company’s use of drones, laser imagery and other technology to help make sure vegetation is maintained safely and efficiently.
Click here to view the video
“Every tree is important to me,” says FPL Lead Arborist Robert Lozano. “We promote Right Tree, Right Place. It’s a concept that really looks at the long-term size, maturity and shape of the tree” to ensure it doesn’t affect a customer’s service reliability in the future.
Right Tree, Right Place guidelines encourage people to plant trees in appropriate settings by considering how high a tree will grow, how far its canopy will extend and other factors. When the right tree is planted in the right place, it won’t grow near power lines and cause outages and safety issues.
To help ensure reliable service for customers, property owners should maintain their trees so they remain away from power lines. As many customers trim vegetation in advance of the upcoming hurricane season, FPL reminds customers to never try to trim vegetation near power lines or on poles – they should hire specially trained and qualified line-clearing professionals to work near power lines.
Visit fpl.com/trees for more information on trees and power line safety; Right Tree, Right Place guidelines; FPL’s program for maintaining vegetation; and other tree-related questions.
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the largest energy company in the U.S. as measured by retail electricity produced and sold. The company serves more than 5.6 million customer accounts supporting more than 11 million residents across Florida with clean, reliable and affordable electricity. FPL operates one of the cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S. and in 2020 won the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Excellence Award, presented by PA Consulting, for the fifth time in the last six years. The company was 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, ethics and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2021 list of "World's Most Admired Companies." 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.
###