CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Overwhelming demand for heat during the region’s arctic plunge forced Duke Energy to roll out controlled blackouts of 15 to 30 minutes across North Carolina Saturday on Christmas Eve.
A number of surprised and angry customers took to social media to vent about the rare and surprise action.
The Charlotte-based utility stopped the rolling outages at about 11:30 a.m., spokesman Bill Norton said. He said he did not know how long it would take to restore power to everyone, although power is coming back up to about 10,000 customers at a time.
The power company reported more than 24,000 outages in Mecklenburg County, part of 41,000 outages in the Charlotte area at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday that also included Gaston, Cabarrus, Union, Lincoln and Iredell counties. There had been about 78,000 customer outages in the region two hours earlier.
And on Saturday afternoon, Duke Energy said it is asking customers to reduce energy use for the next 24 hours as extreme temps drive unusually high energy demand across the Carolinas.
No decision has been made yet on whether Duke Energy will need to deploy controlled outages on Sunday, Christmas Day, according to Norton.
There were about 169,000 outages in North Carolina at about 3:30 p.m.
The “vast majority” of those outages were part of the controlled blackouts, Norton said. “I don’t recall a situation in recent memory” that Duke Energy needed to implement controlled blackouts.
Meanwhile, the Charlotte Fire Department said it was dealing with a high volume of calls due to frozen pipes and water issues. It asked people to call 911 for emergencies only.
Protecting the power grid
A number of factors led to the controlled outages.
Demand for energy in the face of very cold temperatures was higher than forecast, Norton said. Controlled outages were implemented as temperatures sat at 10 degrees Saturday, with wind chills of minus 4.
A few generating units also were experiencing problems around North Carolina, Norton said. And neighboring power companies had their own needs as well.
“The company is implementing load shedding steps that include interruptions in service,” Duke Energy said in a news release about the outages. “This is necessary to extend available power generation and help maintain operations until additional power is available. These outages are temporary and rotated among customers and will continue until additional electricity is available and normal operation of the power grid resume.”
At about 10:30 a.m., Gov. Roy Cooper issued a statement, saying he had spoken with Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good Saturday “to offer assistance and to express urgency about the need to restore power quickly in this extreme cold while keeping customers accurately informed.”
Charlotte weather forecast
The cold front has resulted in North Carolina seeing its coldest Christmas Eve since 1983, when some communities woke up to 8 degrees, forecasters say.
Temperatures at freezing or below are expected through Wednesday of this week, the National Weather Service reports.
The high on Christmas will be around 37 degrees. Meanwhile, night time lows in Charlotte will be 14 degrees on Christmas Eve, 18 on Christmas and 25 degrees on Monday, forecasters say.
Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress the “load shedding” is necessary to “maintain operations until additional power is available.”
Social media backlash to controlled outages
News that Duke Energy was adopting controlled blackouts received immediate push back on social media, with many noting the weather was a threat to safety.
Others pointed out the power giant should have anticipated the shortage, given the cold front was forecast a week ago. More than just cold, the front was accompanied by dangerous wind chills and gusts strong enough to down trees and power lines.
“You did what? It’s 9 degrees outside and Christmas Eve. I pay my bill. This is disgusting,” one man posted on Twitter.
“Some communication that this was going to be happening would have been nice, especially after not having power all day yesterday either. ... It’s dropped 10 degrees inside in an hour,” a woman wrote.
“This shouldn’t be allowed. You’re leaving families freezing. I bet the CEOs power never gets cut in these ‘energy grid saving outages,” another commenter said.
Conservation tips
In asking customers to conserve power, Duke Energy suggested that customers:
—Select the lowest comfortable thermostat setting and bump it down several degrees whenever possible.
—Avoid using large appliances with a three-pronged plug, such as dishwashers, ovens and dryers, during high-demand periods like early mornings.
—Shift nonessential activities like laundry to late evening hours when power demand is lower.
—Charge electric vehicles overnight.
—And if you have an electric water heater, limit the use of hot water as much as possible.
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(Staff writer Ames Alexander contributed.)
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