Hurricane Matthew’s bands of high winds and rains passed through SECO Energy’s service area on Friday afternoon. The Category 3 hurricane knocked out power, downed trees and power lines in many parts of Central Florida.

SECO crews and contractors worked overnight Friday into Saturday morning restoring power to members. The crews worked diligently to bring the number of those without power from 5,000 last night to under 400 this morning. There are only small pockets of isolated outages remaining to restore and a ready and able crew is assigned to each outage. Most crews are already onsite.

SECO members should continue to report outages – especially if they are unsure if the outage was previously reported. Members can report outages online using a smartphone or tablet through SECO’s Storm Center application. Storm Center allows members to report outages quickly with just the house number and last name on the account.

For members less tech savvy, call and talk to a member service rep or use the prompts to report the outage by phone at 800-732-6141. SECO’s System Operations Center and our call centers will continue to be manned 24/7 until all members are restored after Hurricane Matthew. Also report downed power lines – call 911 if there is immediate danger.

SECO is Storm Ready and was well prepared to deal with Hurricane Matthew and its aftermath. SECO tracked the hurricane and activated its emergency response plan well in advance. Additional line crews and tree trimming contractors arrived, ready to help SECO crews restore power.

SECO appreciates its members and their positive, heart-warming comments and compliments during Hurricane Matthew. SECO and its crews and contractors will be working on restoration until every SECO member has their power restored.

As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, SECO is dedicated to being members’ first source for accurate storm information. “Like” SECO Energy on Facebook and “follow” the company on Twitter.