Lakeland Electric Update: 4 p.m.

• Outages
  • As of 4:00 p.m., we have 30,600 customers without power. 
  • So far, we have reported 62 broken poles, 35 damaged transformers and nearly 300 downed wires. These numbers will continue to grow as we continue power restoration. 
    • As loose tree limbs and debris from the storm come free, they may cause new outages to occur. This is very normal for the day after a hurricane; these variables can cause the system to appear volatile for a short period. 
  • We are making progress on the 7 mainline circuit jobs we're focused on today.
    • These are large and challenging tasks. They require time, but once finished, they will restore power to many customers.
  • Our Outage Map is very crowded with outage notices, and the shaded geometric areas may not extend over the entire neighborhood without power. We have high confidence that these outages are in our system. As total outages continue to decrease, we expect this issue to be resolved today or early tomorrow. 
• Estimated Restoration Times
  • We estimate that power restoration will take at least 7 days.
    • Customers currently experiencing flooding may expect their power to be restored toward the end of our estimate.
  • While there is flooding across our system and we are restoring power across our service area, the west side of our service area appears to be more heavily impacted.
• Personnel
  • We now have 600 personnel in the field restoring power. 
    • This includes more than 500 mutual aid personnel from Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Florida lineworkers, tree crews and damage assessors.
  • For scale, this is 5 times our normal operation. 
• Customer Service
  • Our Customer Service Call Center is open. 
    • We are only taking storm-related calls. 
    • The phone lines are open, but we are experiencing long wait times. 
    • Disconnects for non-payment are suspended for all customers. 
    • To ensure we can promptly address urgent safety concerns, such as downed power lines or sparking lines, we kindly ask that customers help us keep our lines available for these critical reports.
  • Customers should call (863)834-9535 to report electric emergencies and downed lines.
  • Our smart meter system automatically reports power outages to Lakeland Electric. 
  • Customers can monitor their outage by visiting our Outage Map. https://lakelandelectric.com/outagemap
  • Our lobby is closed until further notice.
• Reference our Hurricane Guide for more customer information.