FPUA Receives “Restoring Communities Award” for Power Restoration Efforts

The Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) recently recognized Fort Pierce Utilities Authority (FPUA) with a 2024 “Restoring Communities Award.” The annual awards are given to public power utilities for their exemplary power restoration efforts in their own communities or for their mutual aid efforts outside of their home communities following hurricanes, other severe weather events and non-weather-related emergencies. 

These awards follow an incredibly active and destructive 2024 hurricane season for Florida, with August’s Hurricane Debby, a Category 1 storm, and back-to-back major Hurricanes Helene and Milton causing widespread power outages within weeks of one another. In addition to providing mutual aid within the state, Florida’s public power utilities were also recognized for providing mutual aid assistance to Louisiana following Hurricane Francine and to public power utilities in South Carolina and neighboring Florida electric cooperative utilities following Hurricane Helene, as well as for providing mutual aid assistance to fellow utilities on major infrastructure improvement and reliability enhancement projects.

“Mutual aid support in the time of need is one of the great honors and responsibilities that we are proud to uphold as a municipal utility provider,” said FPUA Director of Utilities Javier Cisneros. “We were fortunate during Hurricane Helene to be clear of Helene’s path and able to send a team of dedicated line-workers to support our neighbors. In other instances, we are fortunate to be on the receiving end of mutual aid for the benefit of our hometown.”

“Last year was a particularly rough hurricane season for Florida with powerful hurricanes that brought destructive winds, heavy rain, storm surge, flooding and even a deadly tornado outbreak. Millions of people and communities across the state were impacted, some without enough time to recover from the previous storm before the next one hit,” said Amy Zubaly, FMEA Executive Director. “Thanks to the yearlong work they do to prepare and make their systems more resilient, like hardening their electrical systems and upgrading equipment, Florida’s public power utilities, along with the help of mutual aid crews from all over the country, were able to quickly get the power flowing again following three hurricanes, including two major storms. We appreciate everything our ‘Restoring Communities Award’ recipients did to power our communities forward after this brutal hurricane season.”