Nearly all TECO customers have power restored after Hurricane Ian

Image via TECO.

Tampa Electric, which provides power to 810,000 customers in West Central Florida, has restored power to essentially all customers following Hurricane Ian.

The storm made landfall south of its service area, but West Central Florida received significant rainfall and endured sustained tropical storm-force winds most of last Wednesday and into Thursday.

Since then, TECO has restored power to customers able to receive it. In all, the company has turned the lights back on for 295,000 customers.

Customers affected by flooding or damage to their home’s electrical equipment may not yet be able to safely receive power. In some isolated incidents, customers with more complex damage may take additional time to have power restored. TECO is working with those customers to resolve remaining issues.

“I would like to thank our customers for their patience, support and understanding during this restoration. I’m very proud that we completed this work safely, with no serious injuries,” TECO President and CEO Archie Collins said.

“We could not have completed this restoration as efficiently without the strong mutual-assistance support from our fellow utilities, including some who drove for two days to get here just to help us.”

About 3,000 line workers, tree trimmers and other personnel from as far away as Oklahoma, Texas and Indiana traveled to the region to work 16-hour shifts restoring power.

Hurricane Ian damaged about half of Tampa Electric’s streetlights. Crews are continuing work inspecting and replacing damaged lights.

As a result of storm restoration work, all new lighting services and construction projects with outdoor lighting are on hold until Oct. 10, the company said.

TECO said customers do not need to report malfunctioning or damaged streetlights.

Customers experiencing continued or new outages have several ways to report them, including on TECO’s website. Customers can enroll in the company’s Power Updates from their TECO account to receive text outage reports and receive service updates. Customers should ensure their phone number and email associated with their account is up to date.

Customers can also report outages by phone at 877-588-1010.

Those still awaiting additional assistance can visit the Federal Emergency Management Assistance website to learn about additional resources.