Duke Energy has restored electricity to more than 131,000 customers in North and South Carolina following outages caused by Winter Storm Fern. As of 2 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 26, nearly 22,000 customers remained without power.
The company reported that most service interruptions resulting from the storm are expected to be resolved by the end of Monday. However, some areas with severe equipment damage and difficult road conditions—such as Hendersonville, Travelers Rest, and Clemson—may not see full restoration until Tuesday.
“Our crews are on track to restore most outages by tonight. We’re seeing isolated pockets of more extensive equipment damage along the Blue Ridge Escarpment – in places like Hendersonville, Travelers Rest and Clemson – so some customers in those areas may not have service restored until Tuesday,” said Rick Canavan, Duke Energy storm director. “I also want to make customers aware of a text message scam that’s circulating and targeting utility customers. It mentions rolling outages and includes a link. That message did not come from Duke Energy; please avoid clicking the link.” He added: “Thank you for your patience and cooperation as crews continue their work.”
Duke Energy serves approximately 4.7 million electric customers across the Carolinas—about 3.8 million in North Carolina and nearly 860,000 in South Carolina.
With colder-than-normal temperatures expected to persist this week, Duke Energy is advising customers whose power has been restored to take steps to manage energy use and potentially reduce higher bills caused by increased heating demand. Recommendations include setting thermostats at the lowest comfortable temperature, checking air filters for efficiency, using sunlight during the day for natural warmth while closing blinds at night to retain heat, and running ceiling fans clockwise to circulate warm air downward.
Additional energy-saving tips can be found at duke-energy.com/WinterEnergySavings.
Duke Energy is one of America’s largest energy holding companies with electric utilities serving over eight million customers across six states and natural gas utilities serving another 1.7 million people in five states. The company continues investing in grid upgrades and cleaner energy sources such as renewables and storage technologies as part of its ongoing transition toward a smarter energy future.
