Duke Energy Florida has been named a recipient of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Emergency Response Award for its efforts to restore power after Hurricane Milton in October 2024. The EEI Emergency Response Awards are given twice a year to electric companies that demonstrate outstanding recovery and assistance during service disruptions caused by extreme weather or other natural events. Winners are selected through an international nomination process judged by a panel.
Hurricane Milton struck Florida as a Category 3 storm on October 9, 2024, resulting in about one million reported outages across Duke Energy Florida’s service area. Within approximately 96 hours, the company had restored power to 95% of affected customers by deploying around 16,000 resources. As part of the restoration work, crews replaced more than 1,600 power poles, over 1,300 transformers, and nearly one million feet of wire and cable.
The company’s self-healing technology was credited with saving an estimated 3.3 million hours of outages during the storm by automatically detecting problems and rerouting electricity to minimize downtime for customers. This technology now covers about 80% of Duke Energy Florida’s customer base.
“America’s electric companies and their dedicated workforces work tirelessly throughout the year to strengthen the energy grid and to restore power – and peace of mind – for American families and businesses after extreme weather events and natural disasters,” said EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney. “EEI is proud to recognize Duke Energy Florida for its extraordinary response efforts following Hurricane Milton. This recovery award reflects Duke Energy Florida and its storm response team’s incredible commitment to the customers and communities they serve.”
Todd Fountain, storm director at Duke Energy Florida, commented on the recognition: “While Hurricane Milton was a devastating storm that left much of Florida’s west-central coast in the dark, our team’s strategic response helped get our customers’ lights back on as quickly as possible, allowing them to focus on what really matters, like their families and businesses, and begin to pick up the pieces of their lives. We know they depend on us for that, and it’s a responsibility we take extremely seriously – not just during hurricane season, but all year long.”
Duke Energy Florida serves two million residential, commercial, and industrial customers over a service area spanning roughly 13,000 square miles in Florida with a total energy capacity of 12,300 megawatts.
Customers are reminded that hurricane season continues through November each year; Duke Energy provides preparedness tips at duke-energy.com/StormTips.
EEI represents investor-owned electric companies serving nearly 250 million Americans across all U.S. states plus international members operating in more than sixty countries.
More information about Duke Energy can be found at duke-energy.com.
