Duke Energy urges customers in the Carolinas to prepare for potential impacts from Nicole - Duke Energy News Center

• Gusty winds coupled with precise dense rains could pb to outages successful Nicole’s path

• Line and histrion crews acceptable to respond to outages successful the Carolinas

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Heavy rains and gusty winds are expected to travel Tropical Storm Nicole arsenic it passes done the Carolinas connected Friday, bringing the imaginable for precocious winds, flooding and wide powerfulness outages. While this precocious play tempest is expected to weaken immoderate during its travel implicit onshore from Florida, Duke Energy urges customers to hole for the anticipation of outages on the way of the storm.

“Nicole is simply a ample tempest with precise dense rains and gusty winds, a operation that could perchance bring down trees and origin powerfulness outages successful immoderate areas,” said Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy’s Carolinas tempest director. “We person thousands of enactment and histrion workers crossed the Carolinas acceptable to respond and person worked to fortify the grid and adhd astute technologies that tin assistance trim the impacts of tropical storms connected customers.”

Duke Energy serves much than 4 cardinal customers successful North Carolina and South Carolina. The institution maintains a unit of astir 6,000 enactment and histrion workers crossed some states that tin beryllium deployed locally oregon moved quickly, arsenic needed, to enactment outage restoration successful hard deed areas.

Safety information

The information of our customers and communities is important. Duke Energy encourages customers to person a program successful spot to respond to an extended powerfulness outage aft a hurricane oregon different terrible weather. Below are immoderate tips:

Before the tempest

• Create (or update) an exigency proviso kit to prevention invaluable clip later. The kit should see everything an idiosyncratic oregon household would request for astatine slightest 2 weeks, particularly medicines, water, non-perishable foods and different supplies that mightiness beryllium hard to find aft a tempest hits.
   
• Keep a portable vigor oregon TV oregon a NOAA upwind vigor connected manus to show upwind forecasts and important accusation from authorities and section officials.
   
• Charge mobile phones, computers and different physics devices successful beforehand of storms to enactment connected to important information and effect information. Consider purchasing portable chargers and marque definite they are afloat charged arsenic well.
   
• Maintain a program to determination household members – particularly those with peculiar needs – to a safe, alternate determination successful lawsuit an extended powerfulness outage occurs, oregon evacuation is required.

After the tempest

• Stay distant from powerfulness lines that person fallen oregon are sagging. Consider each lines energized, arsenic good arsenic trees, limbs oregon thing successful interaction with lines.
   
• If a powerfulness enactment falls crossed a car that you are in, enactment successful the car. If you MUST get retired of the car owed to a occurrence oregon different contiguous life-threatening situation, bash your champion to leap wide of the car and onshore connected some feet. Be definite that nary portion of your assemblage is touching the car erstwhile your feet interaction the ground.

For much tips connected however to hole for tempest season, and however Duke Energy tin help, delight sojourn duke-energy.com/StormTips.

For tempest oregon powerfulness restoration updates, travel Duke Energy connected Twitter (@DukeEnergy) and Facebook (Duke Energy). A checklist serves arsenic a adjuvant guide, but it's captious before, during and aft a tempest to travel the instructions and warnings of exigency absorption officials successful your area.

Outage reporting

Before the tempest hits, customers should interaction america to marque definite their interaction accusation is up to day and their connection preferences are noted, truthful they person proactive outreach connected the presumption connected a powerfulness outage they whitethorn experience.

Customers who acquisition an outage during a tempest tin study it the pursuing ways:

• Visit duke-energy.com connected a desktop machine oregon mobile device.
   
• Use the Duke Energy mobile app – Download the Duke Energy App from a smartphone via Apple Store oregon Google Play.
   
• Text OUT to 57801 (standard substance and information charges whitethorn apply).
   
• Call the automated outage-reporting system, at: 800.POWERON (800.769.3766).
   
• Customer work specialists volition beryllium disposable to negociate lawsuit calls should the request arise, with further firm responders from crossed each Duke Energy jurisdictions disposable to assistance arsenic needed.

There is besides an interactive outage map wherever customers tin find up-to-date accusation connected powerfulness outages, including the full fig of outages systemwide and estimated times of restoration.

Strengthening the grid to trim tempest impacts

Duke Energy has made important improvements successful caller years to fortify the grid to marque it much resistant to outages from terrible weather. Improvements see rod and enactment upgrades, placing outage-prone lines underground, managing trees and vegetation adjacent powerfulness lines, and the summation of smart, self-healing exertion that tin automatically observe powerfulness outages and rapidly reroute powerfulness to reconstruct work faster.

During Hurricane Ian successful September, self-healing exertion helped to automatically reconstruct much than 100,000 lawsuit outages successful the Carolinas, redeeming astir 850,000 hours of full outage time, and helping crews successful the tract reconstruct powerfulness faster. Over the adjacent fewer years, Duke Energy expects to instal capable self-healing exertion connected its main powerfulness organisation lines to service astir customers.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 institution headquartered successful Charlotte, N.C., is 1 of America’s largest vigor holding companies. Its electrical utilities service 8.2 cardinal customers successful North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively ain 50,000 megawatts of vigor capacity. Its earthy state portion serves 1.6 cardinal customers successful North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The institution employs 28,000 people.

Duke Energy is executing an assertive cleanable vigor modulation to execute its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its earthy state concern and astatine slightest a 50% c simplification from electrical procreation by 2030 and net-zero c emissions by 2050. The 2050 net-zero goals besides see Scope 2 and definite Scope 3 emissions. In addition, the institution is investing successful large electrical grid enhancements and vigor storage, and exploring zero-emission powerfulness procreation technologies specified arsenic hydrogen and precocious nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune’s 2022 “World’s Most Admired Companies” database and Forbes’ “America’s Best Employers” list. More accusation is disposable at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains quality releases, information sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy’s illumination features stories astir people, innovations, assemblage topics and biology issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Jeff Brooks
Media line: 800.559.3853