Duke Energy prepares for sub-freezing temperatures, potential outages in Charlotte area

CHARLOTTE — The last time our region was hit with sub-freezing temperatures back in December of 2022, Duke Energy executed rolling blackouts in an effort to preserve the grid.

But the plan didn’t work.

Customers weren’t notified and thousands were in the cold for hours.

The utility says its made changes to prevent a repeat, and there are things you can do, too.

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Exit the winter storm, cue extreme, painfully cold temperatures that are expected to blanket the Charlotte metro area.

“It can ice up even more than they typically do during these conditions,” said Randy Tooker with Morris Jenkins.

The heating-unit experts at Morris Jenkins warn we’ll likely take a beating this week.

“Preventative maintenance is key,” said Tooker.

“We’re all sharing the same grid here, and this is a cold, cold week,” said Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks.

Duke crews say they dodged a massive restoration effort that was forecast for the piedmont, and are now turning their attention to days of sub-freezing temperatures.

“Making sure that we’re providing the generation that we need to continue to keep the lights and the heat on throughout the week,” Brooks said.

He says the utility is preparing for the potential of widespread outages.

“We have options for purchasing power,” said Brooks. “We have the ability to extend the available capacity on our system as much as possible.”

But Brooks says protecting the gird, and also ensuring your heat doesn’t go out, isn’t just Duke’s responsibility. He suggests things like lowering the thermostat a couple degrees and closing blinds and curtains.

“All the things that you can do to keep that heat in and the cold air out will help generate savings for you on your bill,” Brooks said.

It’s not just the traditional furnace Tooker says requires special attention.

“If you have a fireplace or you have something that you’d like to use as an alternate heat source,” said Tooker.

Our partners at the News and Observer report Duke Energy quickly made improvements after the 2022 fiasco and put systems in place to prevent the need for rolling blackouts.

But if they do become needed, they say they updated the software that controls rolling blackouts so that no customer is without it for more than 30 minutes, and improved communications so that customers know a surge is expected and that they should turn their thermostats down.

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