Nearly a year after hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Florida, Duke Energy Florida is highlighting ongoing investments aimed at improving power reliability and strengthening the electrical grid. The storms, which made landfall within weeks of each other, affected nearly 2 million customers across the state. Duke Energy Florida responded by mobilizing about 25,000 workers and resources to restore service, with most outages resolved within 72 hours.
In the aftermath of these storms, Duke Energy Florida has continued efforts to enhance its infrastructure. These include deploying self-healing technology that can detect outages and reroute power automatically, replacing around 60% of wooden transmission poles with concrete or steel alternatives over five years (with completion targeted for 2028), and moving approximately half of its distribution system underground to protect against extreme weather. The company has also completed hardening projects at 38 substations, with more underway, and carried out extensive vegetation management along distribution lines.
“Duke Energy Florida stands ready to respond to any storm activity that impacts our state,” said Melissa Seixas, president of Duke Energy Florida. “We prepare for this time all year and every investment we make helps to keep our customers’ lights on and speed restoration when an outage does occur.”
Antonio Price, vice president of zone operations at Duke Energy Florida, added: “Particularly in Pinellas County, we are seeing significant improvements in our restoration times because of our grid hardening efforts over the last years. In Pinellas County, 90% of our residents are served by self-healing technology, and that allows us to quickly restore outages without dispatching personnel. It also allows us to narrow down where the outages are so we can restore even more quickly.”
Duke Energy Florida serves approximately 2 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile area in the state.
Duke Energy is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve millions across several states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The company continues to invest in grid upgrades as well as cleaner generation sources such as natural gas, nuclear energy and renewables.
More information about Duke Energy’s initiatives can be found at duke-energy.com.
