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Power to more than 166,000 customers restored as of 2 p.m.
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Approximately 82,000 customers still without power mostly in hardest hit Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Duke Energy Florida is making significant progress restoring electric service following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 storm that brought heavy rain and wind to Florida.
More than 3,500 line and vegetation personnel, damage assessors and support personnel are involved in outage restoration efforts. Resources are strategically positioned in Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties. To date, the company has restored more than 166,000 customer outages.
The company expects to complete power restoration to all customers in Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties by midnight Sunday.
Restoration in the most severely impacted areas of Volusia County may continue into Monday.
All other Hurricane Matthew-impacted customers either have been restored or will be restored by end of day today.
Crews will continue to work on scattered and isolated outages until all service is restored. In some cases, service may be delayed for customers where meter or other customer equipment is damaged and requires repair an inspection. As crews respond to make repairs and restore service, specific estimated times of restoration will be updated for customers.
For Customer Outage Reporting/Customer Service (24-hour), call 800.228.8485
"We thank our customers for their patience as our crews work to restore service. We have the necessary resources and personnel to get our customers restored in the most efficient manner possible," said Luis Ordaz, storm director, Duke Energy – Florida. "We have brought in additional line and tree crews and are working tirelessly to get power restored."
Duke Energy restoration plans first focus on essential services, such as hospitals, fire and police station first. Then crews begin working on fixing outages impacting the largest number of customers in the shortest amount of time. From there, they restore smaller areas and neighborhoods, working the hardest-hit areas until every customer's power is on.
When a storm-related outage is reported, where customers live or the status of accounts don't factor into restoration plans.
"If you see a crew in your area that appears to pass you, it may be we must complete work at another location in order to restore electric service to your home or business," Ordaz said. "For example, one residential street may be fed by two main power lines on different substations.
Safety
Hazardous conditions remain in many places. Company officials emphasize the most important thing customers can do is to focus on safety. In addition, to ensure your safety and the safety of our crews, please refrain from approaching workers as they restore service in the community.
Stay away from power lines that have fallen or are sagging. Consider all power lines energized, as well as trees or limbs in contact with power lines. Please report downed power lines to Duke Energy.
If a power line falls across a car you're in, stay in the car. If you MUST get out of the car due to a fire or other immediate life-threatening situation, do your best to jump clear of the car and land on both feet. Be sure no part of your body is touching the car when your feet touch the ground.
The first step of storm restoration is damage assessment. During this process, estimate restoration times are not available. For a better understanding, and to check on outages, go to Duke Energy Florida's web page.
Duke Energy is a member of a mutual assistance organization and has agreements with utility contractors to ensure the necessary resources can be brought to Florida from throughout the southeast. Duke Energy also provides assistance when storms affect other utilities in other parts of the country.
Outage reporting and status updates
At any time, customers without power can report their outage by:
- Going online at duke-energy.com or by visiting our mobile website at m.duke-energy.com
- Texting OUT to 57801 (Standard text and data charges may apply)
- Calling the automated outage-reporting system at 800.228.8485
For storm or power restoration updates, follow Duke Energy on Twitter (@DukeEnergy) and Facebook (Duke Energy).
About Duke Energy Florida
Duke Energy Florida owns and operates a diverse generation mix, including renewables, providing about 9,000 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 1.7 million customers in a 13,000-square-mile service area.
With its Florida regional headquarters located in St. Petersburg, Fla., Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power holding companies in the United States. It supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 7.4 million customers in the Southeast and Midwest, representing a population of approximately 24 million people. The company also distributes natural gas to more than 1.5 million customers in the Carolinas, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Its commercial and international businesses operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing renewable energy portfolio.
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is an S&P 100 Stock Index company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com.
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