Lakeland Electric has approximately 450 personnel working through the weekend to restore electricity between its crews and mutual aid. It expected to have power restored to customers in the northern end of its service area by the end of the day Sunday.
“As we enter the midpoint of our restoration process, the type of work becomes more difficult and slower,” Lakeland Electric officials said in a statement.
The southern half of Lakeland Electric’s service area should have electricity by Monday night, according to spokeswoman Cathryn Lacy, adding any remaining customers would have restoration Tuesday.
Ian took down more than 500 wires across Lakeland Electric’s service territory, according to the utility’s preliminary damage report. It had 80 damaged poles, 276 damaged transformers and 349 reports of trees requiring trimming or removal, according to Lacy. She said those numbers will likely increase as field reports from restoration crews come in.
- At 9:00 a.m., we are reporting 11,000 customers without power.
- We have restored 80% of our storm-related outages.
- We estimate the majority of the north side of our service territory will be restored by the end of the day today (Sunday). The majority of the south side of our service territory will be restored by the end of the day Monday. The remaining customers can expect their power to be restored by the end of day Tuesday.
- Some customers with damage to their electrical components may not be ready to receive power and we can not restore their power until their repairs are completed. Information about the customer’s responsibility is available here: https://lakelandelectric.com/news/___who-is-responsible-for-repairs
Type of work:
- As we enter the midpoint of our restoration process, the type of work becomes more difficult and slower.
- Easement work is continuing; these jobs can take longer to complete because of the constrained working area.
- Bucket trucks will not fit in these areas, so lineworkers must climb poles or use special equipment to work in these areas.
Restoration personnel:
- We have over 250 mutual aid personnel here from Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Alabama, North Carolina, New Jersey and Louisiana to assist with our power restoration effort.
- We are still clearing debris from affected areas.
- Lakeland Electric has 200 personnel in the field restoring power.
Customer information:
- The Call Center is open and responding to storm-related calls only.
- Customers are encouraged to report downed poles, downed wires and tree limbs on wires to 863-834-9535.
- Customers can find post-storm tips like generator safety, our restoration process, and what to do if your electric components are damaged. Hurricane Guide.