JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has restored service to essentially all customers affected by Tropical Storm Eta. While customers experienced approximately 350,000 outages, preliminary estimates show the company’s smart grid technology helped avoid more than 115,000 outages and speed the restoration process.
“We greatly appreciate our customers’ patience while crews worked around-the-clock to restore power as bands of severe weather impacted our service area,” said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. “This has been an unprecedented hurricane season with the most named storms in recorded history, and we understand our customers’ frustration with dealing with another storm well into November. The investments we have made to build a smarter and stronger energy grid have helped us restore power faster and has helped reduce the number of outages.”
The leading cause of outages was vegetation and debris blowing into lines, as well as severe flooding in some areas.
A limited number of customers in areas with severe flooding remain without power. Crews must wait for floodwaters to recede before they are able to safely access equipment and restore power to remaining customers in areas of severe flooding.
“The biggest challenge we faced in this restoration was cutting away and removing fallen trees and other debris before we could fully assess and restore an outage,” said Sharon Bruce, an FPL vegetation specialist with FPL since 2015. “We often find debris has blown into our equipment, which causes damage and slows down the restoration.”
Customers should contact FPL at 1-800-4-OUTAGE if their neighbors have power, but they are still experiencing an outage. Please avoid standing water and debris.
“I would like to thank our colleagues from our sister company Gulf Power and our industry partners for their help, especially after responding to many other natural disasters around the country,” said Silagy. “Additionally, we thank law enforcement, first responders and other state and local officials for their assistance in helping us quickly and safely restore power. I would like to remind customers that hurricane season is not over and there are a couple of tropical systems we’re closely watching. It’s a good reminder that while there are only a few weeks left in hurricane season, Mother Nature does not follow a calendar and we must remain vigilant and prepared."
By the numbers
- Approximately 350,000 customers restored since Eta began affecting the peninsula.
- Peak number of outages was 56,000 at any given time during the storm.
- Smart grid technology helped avoid more than 115,000 outages.
- The average customer was restored in approximately two and a half hours.
- More than 80 drone teams helped survey damage and speed restoration.
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 blog: FPLblog.com
- FPL Power Tracker: FPL.com/powertracker
- FPL app: Download from the App Store or Google Play, or text the word “App” to MyFPL (69375)
###
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the largest energy company in the United States as measured by retail electricity produced and sold, serving more than 5.1 million customer accounts or an estimated 10 million+ people across the state of Florida. FPL’s typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill is approximately 30% lower than the latest national average and among the lowest in the U.S. FPL’s service reliability is better than 99.98%, and its highly fuel-efficient power plant fleet is one of the cleanest among all electric companies nationwide. The company was recognized in 2020 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Escalent for the seventh consecutive year. A leading Florida employer with approximately 8,900 employees, 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 2020 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies.” NextEra Energy is also the parent company of Gulf Power Company, which serves approximately 470,000 customers in eight counties throughout northwest Florida, and 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.GulfPower.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com