Eighty-six percent of the outages in South Carolina from last week’s ice storm have been restored. Duke Power and crews from 17 states and the District of Columbia have restored 64 percent of affected customers system-wide. Power has been restored to more than 886,000 customers impacted by the worst storm in Duke Power history.

“The momentum has shifted,” said E. O. Ferrell, senior vice president of electric distribution for Duke Power. “In the first few days after the storm, we faced extensive damage coupled with freezing temperatures. Over the weekend, we made significant progress in reducing the number of outages across our service territory.”

“Our dedicated crews, along with the infusion of personnel from several states, has helped us tackle the most devastating storm in the company’s history.”

More than 12,000 Duke Power, contractor and electric employees from 17 states and the District of Columbia have been working around the clock to restore power. At the height of the outages, more than 1.3 million customers had lost service as a result of this storm.

Crews are focusing on the larger lines that will restore the largest numbers of customers at a time.

Reminders:

·         Duke Power asks that customers not approach crews to ask questions as the crews enter neighborhoods. This will delay the restoration efforts. It also poses a safety hazard to both customers and crew members when crews are working to remove trees and repair lines.

·         Duke Power 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 completed as required, contact Duke Power to reconnect your power.  If you have questions about installation inspections, contact your local county offices.

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 4:30 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 midnightWednesday, Dec. 11.  Restoration may be longer for customers with individual service or equipment problems.

ESTIMATED TIMES OF RESTORATION

MONDAY, DEC. 9, WE WILL PROVIDE UPDATE ON OUR MEDIA OUTAGE UPDATE LINE AT 704/382-8333 ON THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULE:

5:30 a.m.

10:30 a.m.

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.