“We’ve never seen this much damage affecting our entire system -- from Anderson, S.C., to Durham, N.C.,” said E.O. Ferrell, senior vice president of electric distribution for Duke Power. “We’ve seen one-half to one inch of ice throughout the service area. Compounding the problem is that many trees have not lost all their leaves, causing limbs to break under the weight.”

Scouting crews have spent the day assessing the damage from the ice storm. The full extent of the damage may not be known until sometime Friday.

“More than 4,000 Duke Power employees are responding to this storm. We are also expecting up to 2,000 people from neighboring utilities as far north as Michigan and as far south as Florida to arrive tomorrow to help us with this recovery,” said Ferrell. “We are restoring power, focusing on the lines from the substations first. It will be several days before we have service restored across the system.”

Our biggest concern is the refreezing we expect to see tonight due to low temperatures. Warmer temperatures tomorrow should help us make progress,” said Ferrell.

Power outages and downed power lines should be reported using the 1/800-POWERON (1/800-769-3766) telephone line. If a customer has reported an outage, it isn’t necessary to call again unless the customer’s power remains off when a neighbor's power is restored.

Major areas affected as of 4 p.m. are:

WE WILL BE PROVIDING UPDATES ON OUR MEDIA OUTAGE UPDATE LINE AT 704-382-8333 ON THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULE:

6 a.m.

11 a.m.

4:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

Duke Power, a business unit of Duke Energy, is one of the nation’s largest electric utilities and provides safe, reliable, competitively priced electricity to approximately two million customers in North Carolina and South Carolina. Duke Power operates three nuclear generating stations, eight coal-fired stations, 31 hydroelectric stations and numerous combustion turbine units. Total system generating capability is approximately 19,300 megawatts. More information about Duke Power is available on the Internet at: www.dukepower.com.

Duke Energy is a diversified multinational energy company with an integrated network of energy assets and expertise. The company manages a dynamic portfolio of natural gas and electric supply, delivery and trading businesses – meeting the energy needs of customers throughout North America and in key markets around the world. Duke Energy, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: www.duke-energy.com.