In less than three days, Duke Energy has restored more than 1 million customers who lost power as a result of Hurricane Irma in Florida.
Nearly 375,000 Duke Energy customers are still without power in the state. More than 12,700 workers are working to quickly and safely restore service.
"We are making significant progress getting power back on for our customers," said Harry Sideris, Duke Energy Florida president. "We're glad to have restored 1 million customers, but we won't be happy until all customers have power. We thank all of our customers for their patience and will not stop working until the job is done."
Sideris added that over 3000 power poles, more than 1100 transformers and more than 1000 miles of wire are being replaced due to storm damage.
For latest outage information and other company updates, visit news.duke-energy.com/irma.
Times of restoration
- As crews respond to make repairs and restore service, specific estimated times of restoration will be updated for individual areas and customers. Currently, the company expects to complete power restoration to customers following areas:
- By midnight Friday, Sept. 15: The western portion of its service area. This includes Pinellas and Pasco counties
- By midnight Sunday, Sept. 17: central and northern portions of the service area. This includes Alachua, Bay, Brevard, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Flagler, Franklin, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson,Lafayette, Lake, Leon, Levy, Madison, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor, Volusia, and Wakulla counties.
- Restoration in the severely impacted areas of Hardee and Highlands County may extend beyond Sunday due to rebuilding the electrical system that suffered significant damage in those areas.
- Crews are focused on restoring the largest number of customers each day. In some cases, service may be delayed for customers where the electrical meter or other customer equipment is damaged and requires repair and inspection.
The most Duke Energy customers without power at any given time was 1.28 million customers on Monday, Sept. 11 at 3 p.m. Duke Energy serves 1.8 million customers in Florida.
The Duke Energy Foundation is donating $250,000 to the Florida Disaster Fund. The fund, administered by the Volunteer Florida Foundation, is the State of Florida's official private fund established to assist Florida's communities in times of disaster.
Restoration process
After assessing damage, Duke Energy will first restore power to critical infrastructure – such as emergency centers, fire stations, hospitals, water treatment and other public safety and health facilities.
The company simultaneously will safely repair major power transmission lines, damaged substations and other large-scale electrical equipment to restore power to the largest number of customers, as quickly as possible.
Work to restore power to small pockets of customers will soon follow the large-scale repairs. For customers in the hardest-hit areas that require rebuilding the system, this may take a week or more. Read more for further details.
Duke Energy is working closely with local emergency management officials and public safety agencies in multiple Florida cities and towns, ensuring a coordinated and collaborative damage assessment and power restoration process.