Duke Energy Florida thanks customers for their patience as company wraps up rapid restoration for nearly all customers impacted by Hurricane Debby

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Aug 07, 2024, 16:50 ET

Advanced automated technology, year-round grid strengthening work accelerates rapid response during powerful storm
Company has restored more than 330,000 customers since Sunday morning, with approximately 5,000 customers remaining as of 3:15 p.m.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy rapidly restored power for more than 90% of its customers within 24 hours after Hurricane Debby made landfall in Florida's Big Bend. The company credits the rapid response to its year-round storm preparations and grid hardening, innovative technology, decades of lessons learned and key collaborations with state, local and community response agencies.

A workforce of 3,000 lineworkers, vegetation workers, damage assessors and support teams, worked around the clock alongside Duke Energy storm response teams, power plant workers, grid operators and dispatchers to restore power to more than 330,000 customers since Sunday morning, when many communities along the west coast started feeling the effects from Debby.

The company staged crews and resources throughout Florida – near areas that would likely be affected – to allow for a quick and safe response to power outages. In addition to its convoy of local crews, Duke Energy was able to draw on other resources from its service territories in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, as well as contractors from across the state.

"Debby made landfall as a powerful Category 1 hurricane, bringing with it strong winds, heavy rainfall and widespread flooding across our service area, including in communities that were devastated by Hurricane Idalia last year," said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. "Our customers rely on us to be prepared and restore power as quickly as possible during these critical times. It is a privilege to serve our customers and we thank them for their trust, patience and understanding."

Strengthening the grid to reduce storm impacts

In addition to investing in smart technologies and remote restoration capabilities, the company trims vegetation near power lines, installs stronger poles, upgrades wires and places outage-prone lines underground to strengthen the energy grid, reduce outages and restore power faster for customers.

The company's preliminary data indicates that its self-healing technology, infrastructure and storm hardening work are making a difference for Florida customers. For perspective, Hurricane Hermine, a Category 1, made landfall in St. Marks, near the Big Bend, on Sept. 1, 2016. The powerful storm left customers without power for approximately five days.

During Hurricane Debby, self-healing technology saved more than four million minutes of total lost outage time and automatically restored approximately 23,000 customer outages. More than 76% of Duke Energy Florida customers are served by this technology.

"We understand some customers were without power for more than 24 hours ahead of a work week and we know that can be extremely challenging," said Todd Fountain, Duke Energy Florida storm director. "We are grateful for the quick response, coordination and dedication of our first responders, state and local emergency management officials and Duke Energy crews and contractors."

Duke Energy crews will continue working until every customer is restored.

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 12,300 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 2 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. The company's electric utilities serve 8.4 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 54,800 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky.

Duke Energy is executing an ambitious clean energy transition, keeping reliability, affordability and accessibility at the forefront as the company works toward net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company is investing in major electric grid upgrades and cleaner generation, including expanded energy storage, renewables, natural gas and nuclear.

More information is available at duke-energy.com and the Duke Energy News Center. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook, and visit illumination for stories about the people and innovations powering our energy transition.

Contact: Audrey Stasko
Media line: 800.559.3853
Twitter: @DE_AudreyS

SOURCE Duke Energy