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The impacts can be felt widely throughout the company’s service area
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Line and tree teams ready to respond to outages
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Duke Energy is closely monitoring the approach of Subtropical Storm Nicole and preparing for possible impacts to Florida in the coming days. The company urges customers to prepare as well.
The company’s meteorologists are tracking the storm, which has the potential to bring damaging winds, heavy rain and localized flooding to parts of the company’s service area across Florida.
Duke Energy prepares for storms throughout the year and has ensured that equipment, supplies and inventory in all areas that may be affected by this storm are available to make necessary repairs and restore power outages.
The company has crews and resources strategically located throughout Florida — close to areas likely to be affected — to respond quickly and safely after the storm passes. If additional assistance is needed, Duke Energy will be able to tap into other resources from its service territories in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and the Carolinas.
“As witnessed with Hurricane Ian, Duke Energy Florida is committed to restoring power as safely and as quickly as possible,” said Melissa Seixas, Duke Energy Florida state president. “If outages occur, our crews and contractors are ready to respond.”
Line technicians and on-site workers are checking equipment, supplies and inventories to ensure the proper materials are available to make repairs and restore power outages.
While the storm is predicted to be weaker than Hurricane Ian, forecasts still show the potential for strong winds and heavy rain that could result in significant power outages in many parts of Florida. Crews will begin restoring power as soon as conditions are safe to do so. After the storm passes, downed trees and flooding can affect working conditions, making repair work more difficult.
Strengthening the network to reduce storm impacts
In addition to cutting down trees and upgrading wires and poles, the company has invested in smart technologies and remote restoration capabilities to help reduce the duration and number of outages and restore service more quickly when outages do occur.
Duke Energy’s smart, self-healing technology can automatically detect outages and quickly redirect power to speed restoration or avoid outages altogether. During Hurricane Ian, self-healing technology helped automatically restore more than 160,000 customer outages and saved nearly 3.3 million hours (nearly 200 million minutes) of total lost outage time. Duke Energy currently serves about 59% of customers in Florida with self-healing capabilities on its main power distribution lines, with a goal of serving about 80% over the next few years.
Safety information
The safety of our customers and communities is important. Duke Energy encourages customers to have a plan to respond to an extended power outage following a hurricane or other severe weather. Below are some tips:
Before the storm
- Create (or update) an emergency supply kit to save valuable time later. The kit should include everything an individual or family will need for at least two weeks, especially medicine, water, nonperishable food, and other supplies that may be hard to find after a storm.
- Carry a portable radio or TV or a NOAA weather radio to monitor weather forecasts and important information from state and local officials.
- Charge cell phones, computers and other electronic devices before storms to stay connected to important safety and response information. Consider purchasing portable chargers and make sure they are fully charged as well.
- Have a plan to move family members—especially those with special needs—to a safe, alternative location in the event an extended power outage occurs or evacuation is required.
After the storm
- Stay away from downed or hanging power lines. Consider all live power lines, as well as trees, limbs, or anything in contact with the lines.
- If a power line falls on a car you are in, stay in the car. If you MUST get out of the car due to a fire or other immediate life-threatening situation, do your best to jump out of the car and land with both feet. Make sure no part of your body touches the machine when your feet touch the ground.
For more tips on how to prepare for storm season and how Duke Energy can help, please visit duke-energy.com/StormTips.
For storm or power restoration updates, follow Duke Energy on Twitter (@DukeEnergy) and Facebook (Duke Energy). A checklist serves as a useful guide, but it’s important before, during and after a storm to follow the instructions and warnings of emergency management officials in your area.
Outage reporting
Before a storm hits, customers should ensure their contact information is up-to-date and their communication preferences are noted on their account so they can receive proactive updates from Duke Energy on the status of a power outage.
Customers who experience an outage during a storm can report it in the following ways:
- Visit duke-energy.com on a desktop computer or mobile device.
- Use the Duke Energy Mobile App – Download the Duke Energy app from a smartphone through the Apple Store or Google Play.
- Text OUT to 57801 (standard text and data rates may apply).
- Call the automated outage reporting system at 800.POWERON (800.769.3766).
- Customer service specialists will be available to handle customer calls if the need arises, with additional corporate response from all Duke Energy jurisdictions available to assist as needed.
There is also an interactive outage map where customers can find up-to-date information on power outages, including the total number of system-wide outages and estimated restoration times.
Duke Energy Florida
Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 10,300 megawatts of power capacity, supplying electricity to 1.9 million residential, commercial and industrial customers in a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.
Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is one of America’s largest energy companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and together own 50,000 megawatts of power capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 28,000 people.
Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company has interim carbon emission targets of at least 50% reduction from electricity generation by 2030, 50% for Scope 2 and certain upstream and downstream Scope 3 emissions by 2035, and 80% from electricity generation by 2040. In addition, the company is investing in major improvements to the electricity grid and energy storage, and is exploring zero-emission energy generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.
Duke Energy was named to Fortune’s 2022 “World’s Most Admired Companies” and Forbes’ “World’s Best Employers.” More information can be found at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center features news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy Lighting features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy at I tweetLinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.
Media Contact: Ana Gibbs
Cell: 813.928.7263
Media Hotline: 800.559.3853
