Duke Energy Florida highlights record-low outage time for customers in 2025

Press release from Duke Energy Florida

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – In 2025, Duke Energy Florida achieved the lowest average outage duration per customer in more than two decades. At approximately 64 minutes, this record metric – which excludes outage time caused by significant events like named storms – can be attributed, largely, to year-round grid hardening efforts across the state. 

“Grid hardening” defined: Strategic infrastructure investments allow Duke Energy Florida to continue providing safe, reliable service for customers on “blue-sky” days and in extreme weather conditions, be it an afternoon thunderstorm or a hurricane.

Preparation in action: All year long, Duke Energy Florida’s engineers, arborists, construction workers and more collaborate on projects that will strengthen the system and make it more resilient.

• Pole upgrades: Wooden power poles are upgraded to better withstand high winds and are often replaced with concrete or steel.

• Approximately 60% of the company’s transmission poles were upgraded over the last five years, with a completion target of 2028.

• Undergrounding: Where fallen tree limbs or branches cause repeated power outages, or where equipment is difficult to access (like in customers’ backyards), overhead power lines are placed underground, better protecting them from the elements and making them easier to get to if outages do occur. (Click here to download photos and B-roll of a recent undergrounding construction project.)

• Approximately 50% of the company’s distribution system is underground.

• Smart, self-healing technology: Similar to a GPS, when this technology is implemented, outages are automatically detected and power is rerouted to other lines, allowing service to be restored faster (often in less than a minute) or even avoiding outages altogether.

• Approximately 82% of the company’s more than 2 million customers are served by this technology.

• In 2025 alone, it helped avoid approximately 280,000 extended outages for customers.

• It also saved millions of hours of outages during the 2024 hurricane season:
  
  • 3.3 million hours during Hurricane Milton

• 1.8 million hours during Hurricane Helene

• 208,000 hours during Hurricane Debby

Our view:

“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.”