Power outages impact thousands across Lee and Collier counties during cold snap

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA, (WINK) — Power outages impacted thousands of customers across Southwest Florida on Monday as colder temperatures increased demand on the electrical grid.

Florida Power & Light crews responded to multiple outages throughout Lee and Collier counties, with outage numbers fluctuating as some neighborhoods had power restored while new outages appeared in other areas.

According to Find Energy, Lee County experienced a peak outage count of 7,905 customers over the past 72 hours, representing 1.49% of customers without power. A majority of those outages occurred on Monday morning.

In Collier County, Find Energy reports a peak outage count of 5,214 customers, or 1.83% of customers, during the same 72-hour period.

In Lee County, some of the most impacted areas included neighborhoods off Palm Beach Boulevard, including the Verandah neighborhood, as well as parts of Bonita Springs, where outages were reported near Bonita Beach Road and U.S. 41 near Bonita Bay.

In Collier County, residents in the Saturnia Lakes neighborhood in Naples reported intermittent outages overnight and into Monday morning, with power cycling on and off before stabilizing later in the day.

Residents in multiple neighborhoods said they saw Florida Power & Light trucks and convoys moving through their communities as crews worked to restore service.

Florida Power & Light says the outages were largely localized and tied to increased demand during the extreme cold.

In a statement to WINK News, FPL Media Relations said:

“We can't speculate on the specific cause of every individual outage, our crews are generally seeing localized outages caused by similar factors related to the extreme cold weather we're experiencing. During periods of extreme cold, home heating systems can use two to three times more electricity than air conditioning. This additional demand can place strain on neighborhood equipment, such as power lines and transformers, and contribute to localized outages across our service area. Our crews are responding to these localized issues and investigating each one to determine the specific cause and make necessary repairs.”

Lee County Electric Cooperative confirmed it did not experience outages during this time.

Florida Power & Light encourages customers to report outages through its website and to check for real-time updates as crews continue working across Southwest Florida.

WINK News will continue to monitor conditions and provide updates as more information becomes available.