Duke Energy Florida restored power to 98% of impacted customers within 12 hours of Nicole leaving the company’s service territory.
As of noon, Duke Energy Florida has restored power to more than 287,000 customers, with less than 5,000 customers without power due to the storm.
With significant progress made yesterday, the company will have a greater concentration of crews in the areas still in need of repair. Power is expected to be restored to the remaining storm-related customers by 10 p.m. tonight.
Making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane, Nicole was the first November hurricane to make landfall in Florida since 1985. Nicole exited Florida around 11 p.m. Thursday.
“While we did not anticipate a hurricane so late in the season, our team didn’t hesitate to respond and support our customers,” said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. “Nicole impacted a large portion of our territory and the incredible team effort helped us restore more than 287,000 customers within 12 hours and we will not stop until every customer is restored.”
Ahead of the storm, Duke Energy Florida staged more than 5,000 workers in strategic locations throughout the state to respond. Crews from around the country helped speed restoration.
Along with additional crews, the company was helped by its recent improvements to the grid, minimizing outages and restoration times.
There is an interactive outage map where customers can find up-to-date information on power outages, including the total number of outages system-wide and estimated times of restoration.
The company also will provide regular updates to customers and communities through emails, text messages, outbound phone calls, social media and its website.
