Jacob Ogles
More than 1.5 million remain without power almost three days after feeling the first effects of Hurricane Milton.
But there’s good news: Most major utility providers have now provided timelines for when service should come back online, aspirational goals that may reassure those still in the dark.
Outages include more than 581,000 Duke Energy customers, almost 428,000 Florida Power & Light (FPL) accounts and more than 420,000 Tampa Electric Company (TECO) power. Additionally, more than 73,000 on electric cooperative power still have no electricity, nor do nearly 35,000 on city power.
Duke Energy, which still has the most customers without power, announced on Friday that it should have nearly all customers online by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday.
Most customers should have power by Sunday’s end in the following counties: Brevard, Citrus, Hernando, Highlands, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia counties.
In Pasco and Pinellas counties, all accounts should be back online by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday.
FPL expects to restore all service by Thursday. A timeline released by the private company said power has essentially been fully restored in Baker, Bradford, Broward, Clay, Columbia, Hendry, Miami-Dade, Nassau, Palm Beach and Suwannee counties.
The company expects to restore 95% of accounts in Glades, Martin, Putnam and St. Johns counties be end of day Tuesday. By 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, the company expects to reach that level in Collier, Lee, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties. The goal is to end Thursday with nearly all accounts online in Brevard, Charlotte, DeSoto, Flagler, Indian River, Manatee, Sarasota, Seminole and Volusia counties.
TECO still has 51% of customers without electricity, but has released a timeline for restoration. The company expects most people in Pasco County to have power returned by the end of Monday and nearly all Polk County customers up by the end of Tuesday. It could take until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday to restore all power in Hillsborough and Pinellas County.
Hillsborough County still has the most customers without power, about 392,000. That’s almost 56% of accounts in the county, all of those TECO accounts.
But the nearly 377,000 accounts out in Pinellas represent a higher nearly 66% of all accounts on the peninsula county. More than 369,000 of those are on Duke Energy, with the remainder on TECO.
In Manatee County, almost 106,000 customers remain in the dark, including more than 103,000 FPL accounts along with almost 2,400 Peace River Electric Cooperative (PRECO) users.
In Sarasota County, where Milton made landfall on Wednesday evening, about 86,000 still have no electricity, all FPL users. Pasco County has more than 69,000 without power, including more than 48,000 Duke Energy customers, almost 13,000 TECO users and more than 8,400 on Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative service.
On the other coast, Volusia County has upward of 80,000 without power, including almost 50,000 FPL subscribers, more than 25,000 Duke Energy users and more than 5,300 on New Smyrna Beach Utilities. Neighboring Brevard County, Milton’s last stop before heading to sea, has nearly FPL customers 28,000 without power, along with a few dozen PRECO customers.
In the center of the state, Polk County has almost 73,000 in the dark, including about 41,000 Duke Energy customers, more than 19,000 on Lakeland Electric and about 8,9000 on TECO’s network.
