FPL says power returning earlier than expected after Irma

On September 17, 2017, Florida Power & Light (FPL) reported that power was being restored to customers faster than anticipated following Hurricane Irma. The Juno Beach, Florida-based utility, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc., serves approximately 5 million customers—representing about 10 million people—across a 35-county service area. By the Saturday following the storm, more than 86 percent of those customers had their electricity restored.

According to reports at the time, FPL expected to restore power to nearly all customers in the eastern portion of Florida by the end of the weekend. For the harder-hit western portion of the state, the company projected restoration would be completed by September 22. FPL also confirmed that its two nuclear plants in Florida remained safe throughout the storm.

The impact of Hurricane Irma was significant compared to previous storms; FPL experienced three times as many outages during Irma as it did during Hurricane Matthew. The president and CEO of FPL stated that the company was transitioning its teams into local neighborhoods to repair power lines and transformers as critical infrastructure work concluded. Meanwhile, some residents faced prolonged blackouts, including a St. Augustine resident who had endured six days without electricity.

During the recovery, customers were instructed to contact FPL only to report hazardous conditions such as sparking electrical equipment or downed power lines.