Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Theresa Opeka.
As North Carolina prepares for a major winter storm that will likely be a primarily ice event, Duke Energy says it is well prepared for it.
"While the forecast is still uncertain, it's very possible that we could experience the Carolinas' most extreme winter storm in over 20 years," said Rick Canavan, Duke Energy storm director, in a press release Thursday.
In a phone interview on Wednesday, Duke Energy spokeswoman Logan Stewart told Carolina Journal that they have detailed storm response plans in place, with an in-house team of meteorologists monitoring the forecast to provide the best response based on precipitation type and accumulation.
More than 18,000 workers will be ready to respond as soon as conditions are safe. This includes Duke Energy lineworkers based in the Carolinas, third-party vegetation and power line crews, and Duke Energy lineworkers from Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio.
"When we talk about snow, it only takes about six inches before we start to see outages caused by trees and limbs breaking, but with ice it's only 1/4 of an inch, so ice for us is certainly what impacts it more, and then with trees and vegetation we just obviously live in an area that has so many trees. Trees are our number one leading cause of outages, as it is anyway, so when you add ice to that, we definitely have the potential to see some outages," she said.
Stewart said they have been doing extra vegetation trimming recently, in addition to what Duke Energy normally does year-round, to prepare for the storm, as well as grid improvement and upgrading their infrastructure.
"We've been installing what's called self-healing technology that goes on our overhead power lines, and what it does is, if a customer is served by that line or that feed and that feed has an outage, it automatically reroutes them to a different line, and so we have that, unlike our main distribution line," she told CJ.
"So, you wouldn't find that in a neighborhood or anything like that, but our main lines that serve a lot of customers, and we're continuing to integrate that across the grid. Right now, about 75% of Duke Energy customers in North Carolina are served by self-healing technology, so that's about 2.9 million customers, and in 2025, that technology helped avoid nearly 1.3 million outages in the state, so that's been a real game changer for us and we're continuing to roll that out across the grid and anticipate seeing more even more benefits coming from that automation."
But, with such a prolonged ice event predicted, there are still concerns about the power grid, with memories of Christmas 2022 cold temperatures that saw rolling blackouts to conserve energy, leaving half a million customers without power for days.
Stewart said they take lessons from every storm and situation, and that one is no different.
"We modified a lot of our processes and procedures, and so with our generation mix right now, the different mixes that could be all of our power plants and things like that, we don't anticipate issues at this time," she said.
"Generally, if we do want customers to conserve energy, we will ask them to do that and that's just the first step in saying, hey, there's some steps you can take to not only help out the grid, you can also save on your bill by doing these things and even when we do that, that doesn't mean that anything is wrong with the grid per se, but we do get daily forecasts on the generation and that's not something right now that we perceive as an issue."
In addition, she advises having mobile phones charged, and if you have a backup battery charger, make sure that's charged. Also, have an adequate supply of flashlights, batteries, bottled water, food, and medicine. If you have family members, close friends, or neighbors who rely on power for medical needs, make sure they have an alternative plan. If you use a generator, make sure you're following the manufacturer's instructions, operating it outside in a well-ventilated space, and taking care of your pets by bringing them indoors.
Once the storm passes, if you see lines down, don't go near them as all lines should be considered energized and dangerous. if you do see lines down, customers can report them by calling 1-800-POWER ON (1-800-769-3766). That's also the same number to report a power outage, or you can text OUT to 57801.
Customers can also visit duke-energy.com/stormtips for helpful information, including how to sign up for outage alerts.
They also urge customers to use the enhanced American Red Cross Emergency app: The free app, sponsored by the Duke Energy Foundation, offers emergency checklists, interactive maps of open shelters, and the ability to monitor multiple locations for weather alerts.
