LCEC – Lee County Electric Cooperative

LCEC receives $27 million from FEMA for Hurricane Irma expenses

August 18, 2021 – LCEC is pleased to announce the acceptance of $27,075,628 by FEMA to help defray the costs incurred as a result of Hurricane Irma in 2017. Hurricane Irma ravaged many parts of the LCEC six-county service territory and resulted in power outages for approximately 70 percent of LCEC customers.

Extensive damage to the LCEC service territory included the replacement of:

• 879 meters
• 1,107 concrete and wood poles
• 376 streetlights
• 659 transformers.

As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, LCEC is eligible to receive reimbursement for specific restoration expenses when documented and submitted for consideration. “LCEC appreciates the financial relief these funds will provide to our rate-payers, as the reimbursement prevents us from having to pass those costs on to our roughly 230,000 cooperative customers. This puts us in a better position to continue the work necessary to harden our utility infrastructure against future storms,” said Chief Financial Officer Sarah Bullock.