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March 01, 2001
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JUNO BEACH, Fla.-- Florida Power & Light Company continues to improve the quality and reliability of service to its customers and now ranks among the top 20 percent of U.S. utilities. FPL credits its success to the company's Reliability 2000 program, which began in 1997. "We value our customers, and we realize how important reliable service is in their daily lives," said Armando Olivera, FPL's senior vice president of power systems. "The intent of our Reliability 2000 program is to give our customers our best, improving our infrastructure and service reliability in order to meet their expectations and maintain their trust." All key indicators used to measure the quality of electric service have improved substantially. The average time a customer is without power during a year is nearly half what it was in 1997-from 2.3 hours in 1997 (137 minutes) to 1.2 hours (70 minutes) in 2000. The average number of interruptions per customer in a year has improved by 29 percent, while the average time to restore service also has improved by 28 percent. Today, FPL customers experience an average of 1.2 interruptions during a year, and if service is interrupted, FPL restores it in an average of 58 minutes-down from 81 minutes in 1997. Since 1997, the company has spent $450 million to upgrade its electricity delivery system. FPL has replaced or upgraded more than 3.4 million feet of underground electrical cable and built 245 main distribution power lines. An additional 2 million feet of underground cable are planned for 2001. FPL has employed new technology and better processes for preventive maintenance and service restoration by expanding its use of data telemetry, which provides real-time information to employees, enabling them to re-route power and prevent interruptions. ThermovisionTM, or infrared imaging, continues to detect signs of power-line failures before it happens. This advanced technology is complemented by FPL's customer care center operations, which provide customers with better, faster information about outages and when they might expect service to be restored. It is easier to report and get information about an outage through FPL's telephone voice response equipment without having to wait to speak to a customer care center representative. "Our customers expect us to plan for the future, providing them with electricity as they go about their day, " said Mr. Olivera. "And if there is a problem, it is our responsibility to report to them what caused the outage, how widespread it is and when they will have their lights back on. This information will help our customers plan accordingly." "We've come a long way toward achieving our goals over the last three years," said Mr. Olivera. "We are building and upgrading our system to strengthen the reliability of service to our customers. We will continue our efforts to improve our service quality even further." In addition to improving the reliability of its power delivery systems, FPL is expanding its power production facilities by repowering key power plants in its service territory. The process of repowering allows the company to generate cleaner electricity using new, more efficient technology and natural gas instead of oil. FPL plans to increase its electric generating capacity by 4,500 megawatts within the next 10 years, with 2,600 megawatts coming on line by the end of 2003. Florida Power & Light is the principal subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL), one of the nation's largest providers of electricity-related services with annual revenues of more than $7 billion. The company serves 3.9 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC., FPL Group's energy generating subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Information is available on the Internet at www.fpl.com . Reliability 2000 Annual Progress |
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2000200 |
11999 |
1998 |
1997 |
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Average time customer is without power (in minutes) |
70.3 |
75.2 |
100.2 |
136.8 |
Average restoration time (in minutes) |
58.3 |
60.6 |
64.9 |
80.9 |
Average number of outages per customer |
1.21 |
1.24 |
1.54 |
1.69 |
Average number of momentary interruptions per customer |
10.8 |
11.1 |
11.7 |
N/A |
