Power now restored to 190,104 LCEC customers
LCEC has now restored to 190,104 customers with 24,744 still without as of Monday evening.
“The LCEC plan, matching most utility restoration plans, requires that main power lines and critical infrastructure be restored first,” co-op officials said in the latest update. “Once accomplished, crews were able to repair smaller outages in hundreds of neighborhoods across the five-county LCEC territory. LCEC will have crews in all parts of the service territory until all customers have been restored.”
This means that no neighborhood has to “wait,” but that power will be restored to each as infrastructure repairs are made in that area, officials said.
“LCEC and hundreds of restoration workers have been working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to the 170,000 customers that lost power after Hurricane Irma,” the release states. “Approximately 24,700 customers throughout the five-county LCEC territory remain without power and crews are aggressively working to fix that.”
By Tuesday evening, most power in the areas of North Fort Myers, Pine Island, St. James City, Bokeelia, Useppa, Sanibel, Captiva, Cape Coral, Marco Island, Goodland, and Everglades City, Chokoloskee, Ochopee, Miles City, Monroe Station, Port of the Islands are expected to be essentially restored,officials said.
Customers in areas who are still out of power, may have more localized damage to the infrastructure serving their specific location. Additionally, most customers in Immokalee and Lehigh Acres, the most impacted areas by the hurricane, can expect restoration by Sept. 22.
Customers should:
1. Check to be sure their breaker is on.
2. If pipes or wires at the meter box are bent or broken, a licensed electrician must make repairs so that LCEC can restore power. Permits are not needed for emergency restoration but government inspections will be needed once power has been restored to ensure safety.
3. If the meter is damaged, LCEC will replace it to restore power.
4. Customers who are the only ones in their area without power should call 239-656-2300 and report an outage on the automated phone line , so localized damage can be tracked and addressed.
Source: LCEC