“We continue to make progress,” said E.O. Ferrell, senior vice president of electric distribution for Duke Power. “We are monitoring weather conditions that could impact our efforts on Tuesday.”   

Temperatures are expected to remain in the 30s during the day Tuesday, with wind speeds of 20 to 30 mph and a possibility of freezing rain in the morning, from Charlotte to Durham.

These deteriorating conditions could impact restoration activities and, possibly, lead to additional outages caused by trees damaged or weakened by an extended drought and last week’s ice storm. Improving weather is expected on Wednesday.

The company continues to project that service will be reconnected to 90 percent of affected customers by midnight Wednesday, December 11.

“We understand that several days without power is very uncomfortable and stressful,” Ferrell said. “Many of our employees also continue to be without power in their homes. Our crews are working around the clock to restore power to our customers. We appreciate the patience of our customers during this very challenging period.” 

Reminders:

If your power remains off when a neighbor’s power is back on, the company advises you to call 1-800-POWERON (1-800-769-3766). The line offers options for Spanish speaking customers. (Si su casa sigue sin servicio eléctrico y sus vecinos ya tienen electricidad, favor de llamar al teléfono de Duke Power, 1-800-POWERON (1-800-943-6914). Nuestras operadoras pueden atenderle en español.)

Customers are cautioned to make sure their meter box has not been damaged. If the meter box is damaged or pulled away from the building, customers need to contact a licensed electrician for repairs as well as their local county inspections office for information about inspections.   

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

* 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

TUESDAY, DEC. 10: WE WILL UPDATE RESTORATION NUMBERS AT:  

5:30 a.m.

4:30 p.m.

YOU CAN CALL OUR MEDIA OUTAGE LINE AT 704/382-8333 FOR UPDATES. 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.