Approximately 10,000 Duke Power employees, contractors and neighboring crews are helping to restore electrical power to 1 million customers affected by a winter storm that hit North Carolina and South Carolina this week. The company projects that 90 percent of the outages will be restored by Wednesday evening, Dec. 11. 

  “Improving weather and cooperation from several agencies and outside utilities have enabled us to make solid progress toward restoring power to our customers,” said E. O. Ferrell, senior vice president of electric distribution for Duke Power. “We will continue to work diligently and safely to restore power to customers as soon as possible.”

As we continue our restoration efforts throughout the weekend, we ask that customers provide our crews with the freedom of movement to complete their important work,” Ferrell continued. “We appreciate our customers’ understanding.”

Ferrell pointed out the following safety considerations for customers as work continues to restore power:

Customers who may have had their meters separated from their home should call an electrician to have the meter reconnected after their power is restored.

Customers who have gone some time without power may forget about appliances and other electrical devices that were left on when power service was interrupted. Customers should double-check everything in their home or business and ensure that it won’t be turned on and left on unattended when power is restored.

Duke Power urges customers who purchase generators to contact a licensed electrician for installation.  Generators can be dangerous. Contact a licensed electrician if you have any questions about the operation of the unit.

If you are using a generator at your home to provide power until your service is restored, please watch for our crews and turn the generator off when they are in your area.  The excess electricity created by your generator can feed back onto the electric lines, severely injuring a line technician who begins to work on a line, believing it to be de-energized.

When using an emergency generator in your home, it is safer to plug appliances or devices directly into the generator.  Duke Power does not recommend connection of a generator directly to a breaker panel or fuse box.  If your generator has previously been connected to your panel, you MUST turn off or disconnect your main breaker to ensure the safety of our line technicians working on the line to restore your service.

Always make sure your generator exhaust is located outside and properly vented.  It can be dangerous to locate a generator in an enclosed space like a garage.

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 3 p.m.:

FOR REPORTERS COVERING THIS STORY: WE WILL PROVIDE A STATUS REPORT ON OUR MEDIA OUTAGE UPDATE LINE AT 704-382-8333 AT 9:30 P.M. PLEASE PRESS OPTION 1. THIS OPTION WILL ALSO ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE A MESSAGE.

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.