Duke Energy resumes normal power operations after holiday artic blast

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Duke Energy said they are resuming normal power operations after the holiday artic blast that affected power generation and delivery in much of the country.

UPDATE: DEC. 26

On Christmas day, the company asked customers to limit their power usage while cold temperatures continued to impact the area through 10:00 a.m. on Monday. As a result, on Monday, the company said no additional conservation measures are needed from customers at this time.

“Whether you lost power from interruptions in service or conserved energy to help others, we are deeply grateful for your patience and understanding,” said Carolinas manager grid operations, Daniel Fain.

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“Extremely cold temperatures combined with increasing customer demand has strained the electric grid across the country,” says Jason Hollifield, Carolinas Storm Director. “We are grateful for our customers who saved energy this morning and we are asking them to conserve energy again tonight through tomorrow morning.”

Duke Officials said a projected increase of power demand as people return to the workplace could require rotating outages.

To help avoid this - officials said customers could reduce energy use in the following ways:

• Choosing the lowest comfortable thermostat setting and lowering it several degrees whenever possible.
• Avoid using larger appliances such as dishwashers, ovens and dryers when the power demand is higher, such as early mornings.
• Move non-essential activities such as laundry to later hours in the evening.
• Charge electric vehicles overnight.
• Limit hot water use as much as possible if you have an electric water heater

“We’ll be ready to respond to whatever the weather brings tomorrow morning. But we are optimistic that with the ongoing energy conservation of our customers, we can avoid having rotating outages again.”

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