JUNO BEACH, Fla., Oct. 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) today
announced that service has been restored to all customers affected
by Hurricane Matthew. FPL restored more than 1 million customer
interruptions less than 48 hours after the storm exited its service
territory.
"We understand the frustration that comes from being without
power and sincerely thank our customers for their patience and
understanding," said Eric Silagy,
president and CEO of FPL. "We especially want to thank those
customers in the hardest-hit areas who received multiple estimates
of when their service would be restored. Unfortunately, significant
damage and massive tree devastation required us to not just restore
service, but rebuild electric infrastructure from the ground up.
That said, the kind words from many of our customers in the field
and on social media were a source of strength and encouragement for
our crews as they worked around the clock."
FPL deployed more resources pre-storm than ever before. At the
height of restoration, FPL's workforce numbered 15,000, including
its own employees along with workers from contracting companies and
partner utilities across the country.
"We are grateful to our partner utilities and contractors who
answered the call and helped us restore service," said Silagy. "We
also want to thank Gov. Rick Scott,
as well as state and local officials, for their leadership during
what will arguably go down as one of the of the worst storms to
impact Florida in recent memory."
FPL has invested more than $2
billion since 2006 to build a stronger, smarter and more
storm-resilient energy grid that allows us to restore power much
faster than ever before.
"By the end of the second full day after Matthew left our area,
we were able to restore power to 98.7% of our customers, which is
further evidence that the significant investments we've been making
in our electric grid over the past decade are clearly providing
benefits for our customers," said Silagy. "Were it not for these
improvements, a storm of this magnitude and strength would have
resulted in a much longer and more costly restoration."
Initial analysis indicates that FPL's system performed well
during Matthew, as was the case during Hurricane Hermine a few
weeks ago. Automated switches on poles and wires prevented
approximately 80,000 outages, and we expect this number to increase
significantly once we validate additional outage information. Also,
hardened feeders, which are designed to withstand more severe
weather conditions, performed approximately 1.5 times better than
non-hardened feeders. No poles along FPL's transmission or
distribution network failed due to wind from Matthew. Any damage to
FPL electrical equipment was due largely to debris and fallen trees
and limbs.
"During the next few weeks, our team will analyze every aspect
of the restoration effort, and we will incorporate lessons learned
from Matthew in an effort to continue to enhance our system and
make our processes and procedures even more efficient and
effective," said Silagy.
With limited work left to clean up in the hardest-hit areas, FPL
has released the majority of utility and contract workers who
responded from across the country. While Matthew is no longer
impacting our service territory, customers may experience limited
outages over the coming weeks and months due to weakened trees and
limbs that could impact power lines and electrical equipment. FPL
and contract crews will continue to make needed repairs as they are
identified.
"Matthew is a stark reminder that we are in the height of what
is forecast to be a very active hurricane season, and we must
remain vigilant," said Silagy. "Please take time now to ensure you
and your family are prepared before the next storm strikes."
The company offers storm preparation and safety tips at
FPL.com/storm, including a downloadable guide for customers' homes
and families.
Florida Power & Light
Company
Florida Power &
Light Company is the third-largest electric utility in the United States, serving more than 4.8
million customer accounts or more than 10 million people across
nearly half of the state of Florida. FPL's typical 1,000-kWh
residential customer bill is approximately 30 percent lower than
the latest national average and, in 2015, was the lowest in
Florida among reporting utilities
for the sixth year in a row. FPL's service reliability is better
than 99.98 percent, and its highly fuel-efficient power plant fleet
is one of the cleanest among all utilities nationwide. The company
received the top ranking in the southern U.S. among large electric
providers, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Electric Utility
Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM, and was
recognized in 2016 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric
utilities by Market Strategies International. A leading Florida
employer with approximately 8,800 employees, FPL is a subsidiary of
Juno Beach, Fla.-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 2016 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. For
more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these
websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com,
www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
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SOURCE Florida Power & Light
Company