June 19, 2007

Equipment Failure Causes Outage in Marathon

At 3:22 p.m. on June 19, Florida Keys Electric Cooperative experienced a local distribution outage in Marathon.

A hot line clamp failed and dropped an energized line, causing approximately 1,648 FKEC members to lose power. FKEC crews located and repaired the failed equipment and power was restored at 4 p.m. The 38-minute outage affected consumers on the bayside from mile marker 49 to mile marker 52.5.

FKEC's system was 99.98% reliable in 2006, with only 1.88 hours of power outages per FKEC member for the entire year.

The company's routine maintenance schedule includes annual aerial visual inspections by helicopter, annual inspections with infrared cameras, and scheduled equipment upgrades and replacements based on equipment life cycles.

FKEC is a not-for-profit cooperative utility serving the Upper and Middle Keys since 1940.