CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke Energy said Monday it has returned to normal power operations after days of outages and pleas for power conservation prompted by prolonged freezing temperatures.
“Whether you lost power from interruptions in service or conserved energy to help others, we are deeply grateful for your patience and understanding,” Daniel Fain, who manages grid operations for Duke Energy in the Carolinas, said in a released statement.
Not everyone was feeling grateful. Days of power instability angered scores of customers. As many as 500,000 customers had limited or no power service on Christmas Eve morning Saturday. At the time, temperatures were at or near all-time historic lows.
On Friday, temperatures dropped suddenly as a cold front moved through the country. The cold front brought frigid temperatures and wind gusts as high as 64 mph. The cold temperatures and strong winds challenged wires and electrical equipment. Then wind chills bottomed out at -3 degrees in Charlotte Saturday morning, and the demand for power spiked.
Citing what Duke Energy called an emergency need to protect and preserve the grid, they began intentional and temporary rolling blackouts Saturday morning. The company forewarned of further blackouts throughout the weekend if a call to conserve power was not met.
"Duke Energy assures me NC is in the clear now," North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper tweeted Monday. "But I’m deeply concerned about people who lost power and who didn’t get notice about rotating outages. Grateful for those who conserved energy. I’ve asked Duke for a complete report on what went wrong and for changes to be made."
It was not known when the report would be due or whether any legal compliances had been violated.
By Monday, most of the weekend's power outages had been restored. However, residents were still battling isolated outages. Some WCNC Charlotte viewers also said they had other utility services that were still disrupted, including home Internet service and water.
“I’m cold, I’m embarrassed, and I mean it’s just hard to be able to do stuff without water," Vera White said.
White lives at The Mezzanine at Freedom. She said she hadn't had water since Saturday. They showed WCNC Charlotte damage around the complex, while neighbors helped each other out, by providing water to one another.
“We have elderly, disabled that can not get water, they don’t have a way to get water, some don’t have family here, they don’t have anywhere to go and being that it was the holiday yesterday a lot of places were closed," Danielle Sadler said.
Tuesday afternoon, WCNC Charlotte learned water had been restored at The Mezzanine at Freedom.
“I just wanted to get it addressed and be taken care of," Kerry Summers said.
Other residences are experiencing similar situations, like Magnolia Senior Living off of Beatties Ford Road. Residents say they have been moved into a motel after it was deemed unsafe from a pipe burst.
The Willow Grove in Matthews also evacuated residents due to flooding.