Duke Energy responding to outages in Moore County

• Vandalism on Saturday night disabled equipment at two substations
• About 45,000 customers are without power  

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy crews are currently responding to widespread outages in Moore County. The company experienced multiple equipment failures affecting substations leaving about 45,000 customers without power.

"Duke Energy is pursuing multiple repair paths to restore as many customers as possible, as quickly and safely as possible," said Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy's general manager, Emergency Preparedness. "This is a significant local outage that is affecting nearly all customers in Moore County. While some customers will be restored sooner, most customers should be prepared for an extended outage that could last until Thursday."

Hollifield added that crews are working 24-hour shifts to make repairs and restore service to all impacted customers. Several large and vital pieces of equipment were damaged in the event. Repairing the equipment is a multi-step process that will take several days to complete. Once repairs are made, the company must test the equipment before beginning the final restoration process.

Due to the nature of the damage, the company is working with local, state and federal agencies on their ongoing investigation into this incident.

For customers affected by outages, plan to move family members ? especially those with special needs ? to a safe, alternative location due to anticipated time required to fully restore service.

About Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy 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 electric generation by 2030, 50% for Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions by 2035, and 80% from electric generation by 2040. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear. 

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2022 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "World's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Duke Energy contact: Media Relations
24-Hour: 800.559.3853

SOURCE Duke Energy