Oct. 14, 2018 – In North Carolina, an Army of more than 10,000 repair workers continued to restore power to Duke Energy’s customers in the Carolinas following Tropical Storm Michael.
About 50,000 customers – almost all in North Carolina – remained without power as of 6:30 p.m.
Duke Energy expects to restore power to most of the remaining customers, whose properties can receive power, by 11:45 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 16.
Crews have repaired more than 1 million power outages since the destructive storm raced through the Carolinas on Thursday.
Utility teams from Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Texas have joined Duke Energy’s Carolinas workers to assist with repairs.
“We greatly appreciate our customers’ continued patience during this challenging and stressful time for them and their families,” said Duke Energy incident commander Rufus Jackson. “Our crews are working as quickly as possible to safely restore power to all of our customers across the Carolinas.
“The storm’s severity caused significant, widespread damage to the region’s electric system – damage that requires repairing and replacing large numbers of utility poles, power lines and other infrastructure components. That critical work takes time, but we continue to make significant progress,” Jackson said.
Duke Energy is asking customers without power to turn switches to the “off” position on as many appliances and electronics as possible. That step facilitates power restoration by reducing the immediate demand on power lines when power is restored. Once power is restored, the company asks customers to wait a few minutes before turning on those appliances and electronics.
In Georgia, Georgia Power has also restored power to 365,000 customers following Hurricane Michael, and restoration in the Americus and Macon areas has been completed.
The company has more than 5,700 personnel working around the clock to restore power for the approximately 25,000 customers located in the hardest hit areas that received the most destructive damage from Hurricane Michael. All of Georgia Power’s resources are dedicated to storm restoration efforts in the state, and the company continues to mobilize additional resources from assisting utilities as they become available.
Georgia Power has posted the estimated restoration times (ERTs) for customers who are able to receive electric service in the following areas with these projected times:
- Bainbridge area – Tuesday, Oct. 16 by 8 PM
- Albany area – Monday, Oct. 15 by 8 PM
- Americus area – RESTORATION COMPLETED
- Macon and Central Georgia area – RESTORATION COMPLETED
- Columbus and West Georgia area – RESTORATION COMPLETED
- Augusta area – RESTORATION COMPLETED
- Savannah and Coastal area – RESTORATION COMPLETED
As restoration efforts continue, the company encourages customers to keep safety first following Hurricane Michael.
In Florida, Duke Energy has provided additional information about power restoration for Florida customers impacted by Hurricane Michael.
Damage assessment and repairs to the electric system are continuing in all areas that crews are able to access.
The hurricane damaged numerous electric transmission and distribution facilities, including substations, utility poles, power lines and other key system components – all of which will need to be repaired or replaced before power can be restored to individual customers.
Below are power restoration details by geographical zone:
Zone 1 – Taylor, Madison, Hamilton, Suwannee, Lafayette, Dixie and Gilchrist counties.
Zone 2 – Jefferson and Leon counties. Estimated power restoration time is 11:59 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 13. Individual power restoration times will be updated as they become available.
Zone 3 – This zone (described below) experienced significant, widespread damage. Duke Energy crews are assessing damage and making repairs as conditions allow. Some areas are difficult to access or totally inaccessible due to road damage, downed trees and large amounts of debris.
- Wakulla County: The majority of customers that can receive power will have their service restored no later than 11:59 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 14. Individual power restoration times will be updated as they become available.
- Franklin County communities of Carabelle, Lanark Village and Panacea: The majority of customers that can receive power will have their service restored no later than 11:59 p.m., Monday, Oct. 15. Individual power restoration times will be updated as they become available.
- Franklin County communities of Dog Island, St. George Island, Eastpoint, Apalachicola and Alligator Point: Estimated power restoration times for these areas will be available on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m.
Zone 4 – Bay and Gulf counties. This zone is where the center of the hurricane made landfall, causing massive destruction. Many parts of this zone are difficult to access or totally inaccessible. Some areas will require extensive reconstruction of the electric system. Duke Energy currently is unable to provide an estimated power restoration time for this zone. The company is working hard to determine this information as soon as possible.
Duke Energy’s transmission system in this zone experienced extensive damage. Many roads are impassable because they have been either washed away or covered with downed trees and storm debris – making it difficult to access many sections of the zone.
In Virginia, Dominion Energy has continued to work around the clock and throughout the weekend to restore service to customers who lost power in the wake of Tropical Storm Michael. More than 250,000 of the approximately 600,000 customers impacted have had service restored.
“We’ve dedicated more than 6,000 people to this restoration effort, including mutual aid crews from other states that are here to assist us,” said Ed Baine, senior vice president – Electric Distribution. “Our focus will be to reach and restore all customers as soon as quickly and safely as possible. While some regions have had catastrophic damage that will hamper repairs, we expect to have the vast majority of customers restored by the end of the day Monday.”
Early reports confirm significant damage in many regions of Virginia and North Carolina, with pockets of catastrophic damage in south-central portions of Virginia and Gloucester/Northern Neck. There was also significant damage in Central Virginia, the Tidewater area and northeastern North Carolina.
Patrol teams are out in force, assessing damage, gathering data and ensuring site-specific materials and equipment are ready for each restoration job. They are finding significant damage, including broken poles and cross-arms, downed wires, fallen trees, and blocked roads.
The focus today is on working with local public safety and emergency officials to restore power to essential services and facilities critical to public health and safety, such as hospitals, fire and police departments, and public water systems. As of 3 p.m., 215 of these facilities remain out of service and will be restored as soon as possible.
Once critical services are restored, crews will be assigned to work on returning service to the largest number of residential and business customers in the shortest amount of time. When major repairs are completed, the focus will shift to restoring smaller groups of customers and individual homes.
We appreciate the patience of all of our customers as we work through this multi-day restoration effort. Once we have a more complete assessment of all damage, we will be able to provide individual estimated restoration times for customers.
Nearly 6 million customers in 19 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy (NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond, Va. The company is committed to sustainable, reliable, affordable, and safe energy and is one of the nation’s largest producers and transporters of energy with over $78 billion of assets providing electric generation, transmission and distribution, as well as natural gas storage, transmission, distribution, and import/export services.
As one of the nation’s leading solar operators, the company intends to reduce its carbon intensity 50 percent by 2030.
