JEA bringing in more crews to help with restoration efforts, gives no exact estimate for full restoration

Jacksonville, Fl. — Thousands of JEA customers remain in the dark after Hurricane Irma ravaged the First Coast. CEO Paul McElroy says at the peak of the storm there were at least 284,000 customers without power.  JEA says 87% of their customers have power right now, and McElroy says they are continuing to work that number down.

"We got 1,000 people working dangerous jobs working 16 hours a day to restore service to you and the rest of the community. I know it's difficult and I know it's going to get harder."

JEA has been bringing in more resources from across the country to help with restoration efforts. The utility company has brought in over 700 line and tree-trimming workforce additions and assures they will continue to grow until they get the job done.

During a press conference on Thursday, McElroy mentioned the following resources that can help assist those still left in the dark and answer questions regarding crews, details about their outage map.

JEA Customer Care Consultants:

904.655.6000 or 800.683.5542

Consultants are able to give customers an idea of when a crew will be assigned to their area or circuit, according to JEA’s CEO but it doesn’t guarantee when it will happen or when power will be restored.

Consultants are also able to answer questions about why their power outage map shows you have power when you do not.

JEA and United Way:

All counties: 2.1.1 or 904.632.0600

Customers without power are able to call this line seeking assistance, and JEA says they will work to try and transfer those to an agency that might be able to provide essential needs.

"Know that you have over 2,000 JEA employees that are focused each and every, not day but hour, every minute of every hour focused on restoration."

On Wednesday, McElroy says he does not have an exact time frame on when service will be restored to the 90,000 customers still left in the dark.

"We need another 24 to 36 hours of brute force restoration in order to be more precise in terms of when we can really look at restoration. "

McElroy says after that timeframe and they bring in the necessary resources they may be able to give an idea for those who might still be without power on when they can estimate time of restoration.