Published 3 years ago
Lakeland Electric Receives FMEA Restoring Communities Award
LAKELAND ELECTRIC RECEIVES FMEA RESTORING COMMUNITIES AWARD
LAKELAND, Fla. (February 18, 2022) – Lakeland Electric was one of 10 Florida public power utilities recently recognized by the Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) with a Restoring Communities Award. The award recognizes public power utilities for either providing or receiving mutual aid following significant weather events or emergencies or providing exemplary service to their community following emergency situations.
In 2021, Florida Public Power utilities helped restore power quickly and safely in Louisiana and Florida following severe weather or other events, including Winter Storm Uri, Hurricane Ida and following other severe weather.
Lakeland Electric crews responded to Lafayette Utilities System’s mutual aid request following Hurricane Ida. The crews helped restore power in Lafayette and neighboring communities in Louisiana.
“We are so thankful to our members and their crews who are always willing to answer the call for assistance. They have a genuine desire to help those in need and will do whatever it takes, in all sorts of conditions, to get the power back on,” said Amy Zubaly, FMEA Executive Director. “That is one of the greatest strengths of public power — communities serving other communities and people helping other people.”
“Being a part of a network of public power communities that can call lean on one another when needed is critical to our ability to provide reliable power to our customers and to restore power as quickly as possible when we’ve experienced an event that leads to an outage. We are grateful to our employees for their willingness to help others and we will always extend our hand to those in need,” said Joel Ivy, General Manager.
Mutual aid agreements enable electric utilities to call on each other for skilled emergency workers and supplies. Mutual aid can extend beyond fellow public power utilities to both rural electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities.
Public power utilities across the country benefit from the strong network of mutual assistance partners through the American Public Power Association. These connections have created a reliable system where member utilities both request and offer assistance when there’s a need.
In 2021, Florida Public Power utilities helped restore power quickly and safely in Louisiana and Florida following severe weather or other events, including Winter Storm Uri, Hurricane Ida and following other severe weather.
Lakeland Electric crews responded to Lafayette Utilities System’s mutual aid request following Hurricane Ida. The crews helped restore power in Lafayette and neighboring communities in Louisiana.
“We are so thankful to our members and their crews who are always willing to answer the call for assistance. They have a genuine desire to help those in need and will do whatever it takes, in all sorts of conditions, to get the power back on,” said Amy Zubaly, FMEA Executive Director. “That is one of the greatest strengths of public power — communities serving other communities and people helping other people.”
“Being a part of a network of public power communities that can call lean on one another when needed is critical to our ability to provide reliable power to our customers and to restore power as quickly as possible when we’ve experienced an event that leads to an outage. We are grateful to our employees for their willingness to help others and we will always extend our hand to those in need,” said Joel Ivy, General Manager.
Mutual aid agreements enable electric utilities to call on each other for skilled emergency workers and supplies. Mutual aid can extend beyond fellow public power utilities to both rural electric cooperatives and investor-owned utilities.
Public power utilities across the country benefit from the strong network of mutual assistance partners through the American Public Power Association. These connections have created a reliable system where member utilities both request and offer assistance when there’s a need.
