JUNO BEACH, Fla., Oct. 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Power & Light Company today announced that more than 300 of its employees and contractors are traveling to New England to help restore power in areas impacted by Sunday night's damaging Nor'easter.
More than 1 million people lost power due to the storm, and several hundred thousand remain without power as of Tuesday morning. FPL crews are headed to help utilities in Maine and Connecticut.
"This is what we do. When severe weather strikes, power companies work together to get the lights back on," said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. "Just last month, crews from New England came to Florida to help restore power following Hurricane Irma, and we're honored to back them up now."
The FPL line workers, contractors and support staff began their more than 1,000-mile journey in convoys of trucks that left Florida this morning. They will remain in New England for as long as their assistance is needed.
Partner utility personnel play a critical role in the restoration of power following severe weather events, such as hurricanes, ice storms and tornadoes. In September, crews from 30 states and Canada came to Florida, helping FPL restore power to millions of customers in a matter of days.
FPL crews have traveled across the country to help restore power following major weather events many times in the past, including the deployment of approximately 1,000 FPL personnel to the Northeast in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is the third-largest electric utility in the United States, serving nearly 5 million customer accounts or an estimated 10 million people across nearly half of the state of Florida. FPL's typical 1,000-kWh residential customer bill is approximately 25 percent lower than the latest national average and, in 2016, was the lowest in Florida among reporting utilities for the seventh year in a row. FPL's service reliability is better than 99.98 percent, and its highly fuel-efficient power plant fleet is one of the cleanest among all utilities nationwide. The company received the top ranking in the southern U.S. among large electric providers, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM, and was recognized in 2017 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Market Strategies International. A leading Florida employer with approximately 8,900 employees, FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, ethics and diversity, and has been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune's 2017 list of "World's Most Admired Companies." NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
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SOURCE Florida Power & Light Company