- December 16, 2025
According to Florida Power and Light’s online map, 4,454,610 customers experienced power outages as a result of Hurricane Irma.
The company, as a result, has had to put itself into overdrive and has embarked on the most prodigious electricity recovery effort in FPL’s history. With over 27,000 boots on the ground and 95% of the power restored, the company insists it is doing all it can to restore every single customer’s power.
“With Irma’s track it made it tricky, so we allocated more resources toward the coastline, but the hurricane was going to take a way north to the peninsula so we had to stage sites from north to south,” said Tyler Mauldin, FPL spokesman.
The unpredictability and sheer size of Irma caused a lot of need for preparation by FPL, and for an idea on how the power actually comes back on, it works like a funnel.
First, there must be an obligation to keep power plants generated in order for power to get carried out to customers, and then hospitals, large businesses and schools are accounted for, and then down the line to residents.
“We started investing in the grid after Wilma and in 2006, we made the grid stronger and smarter,” Mauldin said.
The new power grid was a $3 billion investment for the company, and at this time of the aftermath of Hurricane Wilma, only 63% of all customers had their power back. With Irma, it’s 95%.
The increase in workforce has been a big difference in the ability to restore more power in recent years. During Hurricane Matthew in 2016, FPL had a workforce of 15,000 boots on the ground to help repair, but with 27,000 in 2017, it, along with the increase in technology, has allowed the company to assist more of its customers in a more efficient manner.
But despite the overwhelming majority of people having their power back, there are still 110,990 across the state without it, including 230 people in Volusia County as of Tuesday morning.
“I really harped on the fact that we’ve been able to restore our customers, but we’re laser focused on the 5% and for anyone that doesn’t have power, we are going to be working around the clock and we won’t stop until every single customer has their power back,” Mauldin said.
