JUNO BEACH, Fla. – The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) has honored Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) with its Emergency Response Award for the company’s efforts to help other utilities and customers recover following Hurricane Ida in 2021.
“Providing mutual assistance following natural disasters is a critical aspect of efficient power restoration,” said Manny Miranda, FPL executive vice president of power delivery. “These teams are the best at what they do, and it is an honor to be recognized for their commitment and service to others. The utility industry is a family; we appreciate the support we have received following storms, and we don’t hesitate to step up and help our neighbors in their time of need.”
Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana in August 2021 as a Category 4 hurricane, leaving more than 1 million homes and businesses without power before leaving a trail of destruction northward. In response, FPL deployed more than 1,250 employees and contractors to support restoration and recovery efforts.
The dedicated men and women worked 16-hour days for three weeks in challenging conditions, including working through outer bands of heavy rain caused by another storm – Hurricane Nicholas – which made landfall in September in Texas. In total:
- FPL’s management teams supervised crews who installed more than 1,500 poles, replaced more than 350 transformers and raised more than 4,700 spans of power lines.
- FPL sent a 10-person logistics team to help get critical equipment to the hardest hit areas, as most equipment needed to be rebuilt or replaced.
- FPL sent materials used to rebuild the damaged energy grid. The company also sent two semi-trailer trucks of critical equipment to repair damaged transmission lines and more than 150 power poles and other equipment to rebuild neighborhood power lines.
- FPL sent two Community Response Vehicles that provided charging stations and Wi-Fi for customers without power.
“This year brought several significant storms and other extreme weather-related events that impacted many customers and communities across the nation,” said EEI President Tom Kuhn. “FPL employees and contract crews worked around the clock following Hurricane Ida to ensure that power was restored safely and as quickly as possible. I applaud the teams for their unwavering dedication to the customers and to the communities they so proudly serve, and I am honored to present them with this well-deserved award.”
EEI is the association that represents all investor-owned electric companies. The winners were chosen by a panel of judges following an international nomination process, and the awards were presented during EEI’s virtual winter Board of Directors meeting. This is the 12th time FPL has received the award for assisting other utilities.
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the largest vertically integrated rate-regulated electric utility 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 2021 won the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Excellence 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. and 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, corporate responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity. NextEra Energy is ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune’s 2021 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.
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