It took 10 days to restore the 660,000 customers who lost power in the 1996 ice storm. It took three days to reach that number this time.

A total of 4,300 workers from 15 states, including Texas, Florida and Michigan, have pushed the number of people assisting in the Duke Power storm restoration effort to more than 12,000.

“Today we are making solid progress toward completing restorations throughout our service area,” said E.O. Ferrell, senior vice president of electric distribution for Duke Power. “We ask our customers who still need to have their power restored to remain patient as crews work diligently and safely.”

Earlier Sunday an out-of-state utility worker was killed following a vehicular accident on U.S. 321 near Gastonia. “We are extremely saddened by the loss of life, and Duke Power expresses its condolences to the utility worker’s family,” Ferrell said.

Duke Power also reminds customers it cannot restore power to homes where a meter base has been damaged or pulled from the wall. Meter bases must be reinstalled by a licensed electrician. Once that is done, and appropriate county inspections are complete as required, contact Duke Power to reconnect your power.

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. Outage numbers will continue to fluctuate as line workers have to disconnect some service to test lines or make additional repairs further down the line.

Major areas affected as of 10 a.m.:

* These numbers do not reflect outages in all areas of the Duke Power service territory. The company projects 90 percent of the outages will be restored by midnight Wednesday, Dec. 11.  Restoration may be longer for customers with individual service or equipment problems.

ESTIMATED TIMES OF RESTORATION

SUNDAY, DEC. 8, WE WILL PROVIDE UPDATES ON OUR MEDIA OUTAGE UPDATE LINE AT 704/382-8333 ON THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULE:

4:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

PLEASE PRESS OPTION 1. THIS OPTION WILL ALSO ALLOW YOU TO REACH A REPRESENTATIVE FOR INTERVIEW.

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.

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