Contributor

Power Restored for Nearly 2 Million Homes and Businesses

Governor Rick Scott today made it clear that Florida’s top priorities continue to be getting fuel delivered to gas stations and getting power turned back on for 100 percent of homes and businesses. While significant progress has been made on both fronts, the Governor will continue to aggressively work until every Floridian can return to work and their kids can go back to school.
Governor Scott said, “Florida is an incredibly resilient state and now it is time that we come together and rebuild. After visiting shelters this week and talking to people who evacuated due to Hurricane Irma, the number one thing I heard from families is that they want their power back on.
“We must make sure Floridians have the fuel they need to get home and back to work, and the electricity they need to live their lives. We are making progress on both fronts, but I will not rest until we are 100 percent recovered. While power has been restored to nearly two million homes and businesses so far, there is much more work that needs to be done. I have directed every state resource to help with these issues, and we are working with local officials, public and private utility companies and the federal government to fill gas tanks and turn on the lights.”
Utility Company Updates

• The current power outage as of 6 p.m. is more than 4.7 million accounts. For a full breakdown, click HERE.
• Since Monday afternoon, nearly 2 million accounts have been restored.
• Do not try to handle downed power lines. Contact your local utility company to report it.

Tampa Electric

• About 3,200 line, tree and other workers, from other utilities from as far away as the Midwest, Northeast and Canada, continue to arrive today to assist Tampa Electric, as part of the largest restoration effort in U.S. history;
• In total, 425,000 of Tampa Electric’s 730,000 customers were impacted by the storm. At the peak of the storm, 335,000 customers remained without power;
• Power has already been restored to 170,000 customers, or about 40 percent of those affected; and
• Tampa Electric expects to restore power to essentially all customers the night of Sunday, September 17^th.

Florida Power and Light

• FPL has mobilized the largest restoration workforce ever assembled with more than 18,000 out-of-state restoration personnel working around the clock;
• In total, 4.4 million customers were impacted by the storm. Power has already been restored to 1.1 million customers;
• FPL expects power restoration to be completed for the East Coast the night of Sunday, September 17^th; and
• FPL expects power restoration to be completed for the West Coast by Friday, September 22^nd.

Duke Energy

• More than 12,000 restoration workers have been mobilized to quickly restore power to all customers;
• More than 1 million customers were impacted by the storm. Power has already been restored to more than 375,000 customers;
• Duke Energy expects power restoration to be completed for western service areas the night of Friday, September 15^th; and
• Duke Energy expects power restoration to be completed for central and northern service areas the night of Sunday, September 17^th.

Gulf Power

• Gulf Power has fully restored power to the 13,000 customers affected by the storm and has no storm related outages; and
• Gulf Power has a restoration team of more than 150 personnel in route to Tampa to assist with power restoration for Tampa Electric.

Florida Electric Cooperatives Association

• More than 760,000 customers were impacted by the storm. Power has already been restored to more than 318,000 customers;
• Approximately 3,000 cooperative workers from Florida and nine other states are deploying to the hurricane impact zone to assist with ongoing restoration efforts.

Municipal Utilities

• More than 800,000 customers were impacted by the storm. Power has already been restored to about 400,000 customers.
• Restoration is expected to be completed by the night of Sunday, September 17^th, except hardest hit areas, such as Key West, which will take longer to restore.
• Several utilities such as Tallahassee, Kissimmee and Jacksonville Beach are close to being fully restored. In addition, several smaller utilities like Newberry are already 100% restored.

Fuel Updates:

• All three of Florida’s major fuel ports are open and operational – Port Tampa, Port Everglades and Port Canaveral. Port of Panama City is also open and operational. Each Port is prioritizing fuel shipments and FHP is escorting fuel resupply trucks to gas stations;
• Port Everglades has three fuel resupply tankers at berth and are working around the clock to bring more fuel into Florida;
• Fuel trucks are actively filling and leaving the terminals to refuel gas stations;
• Port Tampa will receive ten tanker vessels in the next 48 hours;
• JaxPort is open to traffic on the landside terminals. Fuel trucks are actively filling and leaving the terminals to refuel gas stations;
• The first fuel tanker arrived at Port Canaveral today at 2:30pm, and the Port will continue to receive fuel resupply.
• Eleven states have joined Florida in waiving weight and driver restrictions to move goods more quickly into the state, including fuel.
• The Jones Act, Florida’s gas tax and all weight and driver restrictions continue to be waived to expedite fuel delivery.

This week, the Governor took the following actions to expedite power restoration across the state of Florida:

• Hosted daily calls with Florida utilities companies to make sure they were preparing resources and positioning restoration personnel to help get the power on as quickly as possible.
• As early as the morning of Tuesday, September 5^th, utilities were directed to begin contacting mutual aid partners and prepare to report outages as soon as storm impacts were felt. Utilities were also directed to identify any staging areas needed outside of Florida to ensure out of state linemen resources could be fully prepared for deployment as soon as conditions were safe.
• At the direction of Governor Scott, Florida Highway Patrol is escorting utility convoys to areas in need to help quickly restore power, including escorting 600 utility trucks into Florida from the Georgia/Florida line into impacted areas of Southwest Florida. In addition, FHP is providing a security escort to 11 Panama City utility vehicles.
• Governor Scott has directed Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) cut and toss crews to work alongside utility crews across the state to clear road debris so power can be restored quickly.

This week, the Governor took the following actions to expedite fuel delivery to gas stations:

• Directed the Florida Highway Patrol to escort fuel resupply trucks to gas stations;
• Waived the taxes on fuel trucks entering the state;
• Gov. Scott and executive office staff have held daily calls with all fuel supply stakeholders, including Florida Ports;
• Vice President Pence announced that the federal government has waived the Jones Act upon Governor Scott’s request, which waives additional rules and regulations to allow more fuel to get to Florida fast. This waiver ensures that all options are available to distribute fuel to Florida. The last Jones Act waiver was issued in December 2012, for petroleum products to be delivered for relief assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
• Following the Governor’s request, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved an emergency fuel waiver which allows more fuel to quickly enter the state. For more information, please click HERE.