Duke Energy gears up for Helene’s arrival in the Carolinas, encourages customers to be prepared

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Duke Energy is asking its customers in the Carolinas to ready themselves and their family members for Hurricane Helene, which is likely to impact the region late Thursday and into Friday. This includes preparing for potential power outages.

“Helene is a large and fast-moving storm that has the potential to deliver torrential rain and tropical-storm-force gusts to the western half of the Carolinas,” said Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy’s storm director in the Carolinas. “We’re closely monitoring the projected path of the storm and strategically moving people and equipment to ensure we’re ready to respond to power outages.”

Prior to Hurricane Helene arriving in the Carolinas, Duke Energy will have more than 10,000 workers – including lineworkers, tree trimmers, damage assessors and support personnel – staged and ready to respond as soon as conditions are safe.

Safety and preparedness tips

Customers should visit duke-energy.com/StormTips for storm safety information ahead of Hurricane Helene. In addition, Duke Energy recommends customers review these preparedness tips:

• Create or update an emergency supply kit that includes everything an individual or family would need – especially medicines, water, nonperishable foods and other supplies that might be hard to find after a storm hits.
• Keep a portable radio or TV or a NOAA weather radio on hand to monitor weather forecasts and vital information from state and local officials.
• Charge cellphones, computers and other electronic devices in advance of storms to stay connected to important safety and response information. Consider purchasing and charging portable battery chargers.
• Maintain a plan to move family members – especially those with special needs – to safe, alternative locations in case extended power outages occur or evacuation is required.
• Pet owners should arrange to stay at evacuation shelters that accept pets, friends’ or family members’ homes or pet-friendly hotels.
• Customers are encouraged to enroll in Outage Alerts to get information about area outages and restoration efforts via text message, voice message or email. In addition, customers can report power outages via the Duke Energy app or website, by texting OUT to 57801 or by calling 800.POWERON (800.769.3766).
• Customers can also download the enhanced American Red Cross Emergency app for weather safety. The latest version of the app, sponsored by the Duke Energy Foundation, is free, available in both English and Spanish and offers a variety of features including emergency checklists, interactive maps of open shelters and the ability to monitor multiple locations for weather alerts.
• Everyone should always stay away from power lines that have fallen or are sagging – and consider all lines energized, as well as trees, limbs, fences or anything in contact with lines. Downed lines are hard to see in the rain and standing water. Anyone who encounters large pools of standing water should stop, back up and choose another path.

Grid improvements, self-healing technology reduce frequency and duration of outages

Duke Energy continues to strengthen its power grid in the Carolinas to make it more resistant to outages from severe weather. The company is also creating a more resilient grid that enables power to be restored faster for customers.

Some of these improvements include upgrading thousands of poles and wires to increase reliability and better withstand storms; strategically placing outage-prone power lines underground; managing trees and vegetation; and installing smart, self-healing technology that can automatically detect power outages and quickly restore power when an outage occurs.

This self-healing technology helped prevent nearly 100,000 customer outages – totaling approximately 360,000 hours – in August when Tropical Storm Debby passed through the Carolinas.

Duke Energy serves more than 4.5 million customers in the Carolinas, including approximately 3.7 million in North Carolina and 835,500 in South Carolina.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. The company’s electric utilities serve 8.4 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 54,800 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky.