In 2025, Duke Energy Florida reported its lowest average outage duration per customer in more than 20 years, with the figure reaching approximately 64 minutes. This record does not include outages caused by major events such as named storms. The company attributes this improvement to ongoing efforts to strengthen and modernize the electric grid throughout Florida.
Duke Energy Florida has focused on several key initiatives aimed at improving reliability for its customers. These include upgrading wooden power poles to concrete or steel versions that can better withstand high winds, with about 60% of transmission poles upgraded over the past five years and a goal of completing these upgrades by 2028. Additionally, roughly half of the company’s distribution system is now underground, which helps reduce outages from falling tree limbs and makes equipment easier to access when repairs are needed.
The utility has also expanded the use of smart, self-healing technology across its network. This technology detects outages automatically and reroutes power where possible, restoring service quickly—often in less than a minute—or even preventing some outages altogether. As a result, around 82% of Duke Energy Florida’s more than two million customers benefit from this system. In 2025 alone, it helped avoid about 280,000 extended outages.
During the hurricane season in 2024, this technology saved millions of hours in potential outage time: 3.3 million hours during Hurricane Milton, 1.8 million hours during Hurricane Helene, and 208,000 hours during Hurricane Debby.
“Thankfully, Mother Nature spared us last year, but living in Florida, we know it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ the next storm is coming,” said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. “This work is designed to significantly improve reliability and help keep the lights on for our customers when they need it most.”
Duke Energy Florida serves two million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a service area covering approximately 13,000 square miles in Florida and owns an energy capacity of about 12,300 megawatts.
Its parent company Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), based in Charlotte, North Carolina and ranked among Fortune’s top companies in the U.S., supplies electricity to over eight million customers across six states and operates with an energy capacity totaling nearly 54,800 megawatts nationwide. The company is continuing investments into grid upgrades and cleaner generation options as part of its broader energy transition strategy.
