Ryan Nicol
The Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) has brought power back for almost 1.3 million customers who lost service due to Hurricane Milton.
Milton’s impact on the power grid was severe. At its peak, the storm knocked out power for nearly 3.4 million Floridians using various service providers across the state. As of the noon update from the Florida Public Service Commission, just over 667,000 FPL customers remained without power, meaning the company has already restored service for around two-thirds of those affected after landfall late Wednesday.
The company says approximately 85,000 people still without power are living in communities impacted by the storm’s rampant tornado activity.
“Our hardened grid and smart technology prevented hundreds of thousands of outages,” said FPL President and CEO Armando Pimentel in a prepared statement.
“Our restoration crews have made significant progress in the first 24 hours of the storm leaving Florida — restoring power to nearly 1.3 million customers. We understand how difficult it is to be without power, and we are committed to getting every customer’s lights back on as soon as possible.”
FPL has continued being proactive to prepare for storms as the state has dealt with back-to-back strikes. Prior to Helene, FPL positioned workers to be able to respond as soon as it was safe to do so, allowing them to work quickly to restore service.
But Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that the process would be more difficult with Hurricane Milton due to the many electrical workers still assisting in post-Helene recovery — not just in Florida, but throughout the South.
Bringing in workers from out of state is a staple to assist in natural disasters. But many of those workers are still being utilized elsewhere, with Helene striking less than two weeks before Milton.
Nevertheless, FPL amassed a workforce of 20,000 made up of workers from 41 states. FPL plans to provide an additional update on its progress later Friday.
