About 26,000 JEA customers were without electricity Friday afternoon, following Hurricane Irma’s hit early this week.
CEO Paul McElroy said the number is now low enough that the utility will call or email individual customers to let them know that crews are working on circuits in their area.
At that point, McElroy said restoration will be just hours away. He said JEA will then reach out again.
“When the crews report their work is finished and the power’s restored, we’re going to reach out to you again and we’re going to ask you if you have any additional problems with your service,” McElroy said.
He said if there are any additional problems, JEA will be able to immediately circle back with a crew that can work on an individual outage as opposed to working large-scale restoration on a circuit.
As for JEA’s online power outage map, McElroy said it’s not perfect, and he encourages customers to call and tell the utility of any inaccuracies they notice.
Related: JEA Outage map
At the same time, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry said he’s had citizens bring the inaccuracies to his attention.
“The adversity brought upon our city by Hurricane Irma has been prolonged for many by continued power outages,” said Curry. “I am frustrated by conflicting information citizens have been receiving stating that power has been restored when it has not.”
Curry said a city power outage web page is offering citizens three options to report outages. Those still in the dark can send their contact information including name, address and phone number to Poweroutage@coj.net. They can also enter their outage at www.630city.coj.net, or call 630-CITY.
“This is an effort to improve the lines of communication for citizens so that they can receive timely and accurate information,” Curry said in a news release. “I am committed to getting our local families, who have already been through so much, back to a place of normalcy.”
Citizens can also get out of their hot houses and head to the Prime Osborn Convention Center to access air-conditioning, electricity and Internet.
The Prime Osborn will be open through Sunday Sept. 17 from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Reporter Cyd Hoskinson can be reached at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 or on Twitter at @cydwjctnews.
