Gulf Power employs new process to more quickly restore power in Florida
With hurricane season here, Gulf Power has established a new procedure to restore power more quickly for customers.
The company, which serves Northwest Florida, supplied pre-assembled storm kits filled with everything the crews and support personnel need for repairs. These kits include fuses, breakers, wire, and bolts, among other tools and resources. In short, they contain almost all of the necessary items needed to work on the lines and cuts down on time it takes to assemble them as needed.
The kits are stored in a warehouse and are ready to deploy as soon as power outages occur.
The power company tried it out earlier this month when Tropical Storm Gordon hit Northwest Florida and caused power outages for 26,000 Gulf Power customers.
“Previously, it took a full day to get a storm kit ready,” Gordon Paulus, Gulf Power spokesperson, said. “Now our warehouse team loads these pre-assembled kits on a truck in about half an hour, allowing crews to essentially grab and go when they’re called out for storm duty.”
Gulf Power came up with the idea last year while helping restore power following Hurricane Irma.
“Having these kits ready to go means our crews are able to begin repairs more quickly after damage from a major storm,” Paulus said. “The bottom line is that this helps them get our customers’ power restored more quickly.”
During Tropical Storm Gordon, the kits were used in the Pensacola area as crews worked to restore power.
“As Gulf Power maintains storm readiness, we also encourage our customers to stay prepared despite with the quiet season we’ve had so far,” Paulus said. “We encourage our customers to stay connected to us on social media — Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram — for the most up-to-date storm news, whether it be a hurricane, tropical storm or even a severe thunderstorm.”
Gulf Power lets customers view outages and alerts on outagemap.gulfpower.com.
