Nearly a year after hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Florida, Duke Energy Florida is reviewing its response efforts and ongoing infrastructure improvements aimed at strengthening the electric grid. The two storms affected nearly 2 million customers and prompted the company to mobilize about 25,000 workers for power restoration. Most outages were restored within 72 hours.
Duke Energy Florida has continued to invest in its infrastructure since these events. Efforts include expanding self-healing technology that can detect outages and reroute power automatically, often restoring service in less than a minute. Over the past five years, about 60% of wooden transmission poles have been replaced with concrete or steel alternatives, with completion expected by 2028. The company has also placed roughly half of its distribution system underground to reduce weather-related disruptions and continues to move more overhead facilities below ground in areas prone to outages.
Additional measures include completing hardening projects at 38 substations—with over 30 more underway—and conducting vegetation maintenance on more than 4,000 miles of distribution lines. This year, nearly 660 miles of transmission line work are planned. An “Assess and Address” program is also being implemented to proactively upgrade equipment before storm season.
These investments have resulted in faster restoration times during storms in 2025, saving an estimated 313 million minutes of outage time for customers.
“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, highlighted improvements in Pinellas County: “Particularly in Pinellas County, we are seeing significant improvements in our restoration times because of our grid hardening efforts over the last years,” he said. “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 service area covering about 13,000 square miles.
Duke Energy’s broader operations span six states with electric utilities serving around 8.4 million customers and natural gas utilities reaching another 1.7 million people. The company is pursuing major upgrades across its grid as part of a transition toward cleaner energy sources such as renewables and energy storage.
More information about Duke Energy’s activities can be found at duke-energy.com or through their social media channels.
