King Substation Grid Improvement

Duke Energy is working hard in your community to improve reliability, reduce outages, strengthen the power grid against severe weather and prepare our system to serve a growing area. As part of this commitment, we are conducting a multiyear grid improvement project in the King, Tobaccoville and Pinnacle areas.

We are currently working to complete a major upgrade to our power lines extending from the King substation, located on Pilot View Drive near Prince Albert Drive, that serves much of King proper, portions of the Village of Tobaccoville and Pinnacle, and the surrounding area. We are making improvements in this service area to the poles and wires that deliver electricity to your home or business.

Work will be conducted in phases through the end of 2022 and will center around these primary work objectives:

Strengthening the power grid to minimize and help avoid power outages, and guard against physical and cyber impacts – upgrading power lines, poles and essential equipment.
Improving reliability and reducing outage time – installing smart, self-healing technology that automatically detects power outages and quickly reroutes power to restore service faster.
Expanding capacity and preparing the area for sustainable growth – completing substation improvements, new underground and overhead power lines to provide more capacity to the area.
Give customers more options and control.

Project Map

King Substation Project showing areas of work.

Contact Us

For more information, please contact Duke Energy’s public engagement manager for this project.

Frequently Asked Questions

As King and surrounding areas continue to grow, and as our electric facilities continue to age, we must upgrade and expand the energy infrastructure to power the community. Duke Energy is working hard to make sure that the energy infrastructure serving the area in and around King and Tobaccoville can reliably serve customers now and in the future. Improvements such as substation upgrades, as well as new and upgraded power lines, will help increase electric capacity in the area to sustainably support this growth.

In addition to growth, Duke Energy wants to make sure that all customers enjoy the same high level of reliability and service. A recent reliability analysis identified locations that could benefit from new smart technologies, pole replacements and upgrades, vegetation management and other improvements to make sure service remains reliable now and in the years ahead.
Various phases of the work along roads will likely include temporary traffic flow changes and potential temporary lane closures. Large utility and construction equipment, as well as utility crews, will be present in work zones. A planned outage may also be necessary to complete certain projects. We will notify affected customers prior to any planned outage.

In some instances, crews may also need to work in our right of way behind a customer's home or business to access a power line or other equipment.

Why are these improvements needed?

How will this work impact me?

How long will this project last?

Will an easement be required?

Will there be any work completed on my property?

Will you restore property once work is complete?

What other grid improvements is Duke Energy making in Charlotte?