Duke Energy apologizes for Christmas Eve power outages
Customers in North Carolina and South Carolina were hit with rolling blackouts on Dec. 24
Duke Energy issued an apology to customers and regulators on Tuesday, taking responsibility for rolling blackouts on Christmas Eve that left hundreds of thousands of customers without power.
Company representatives appeared before the North Carolina Utilities Commission to spell out what led to outages that impacted some 500,000 households and businesses in the Carolinas after freezing temperatures from Winter Storm Elliott sparked a surge in demand.
Duke Energy apologized Tuesday for rolling blackouts that occurred Christmas Eve for customers in North Carolina and South Carolina. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DUK | DUKE ENERGY CORP. | 117.67 | +0.61 | +0.53% |
"We own what happened," Duke Energy Carolinas CEO Julie Janson told the commission, according to The News & Observer.
Janson explained, "Our operators on Christmas Eve were faced with a series of rapidly evolving events during the morning hours making rotating outages necessary to protect the integrity of the grid and mitigate the risk of serious failure affecting a far greater number of customers for longer timelines."
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The Charlotte-based company's apology was not well-received online, where it was hit with a barrage of negative comments from apparent customers frustrated by the outages and the firm's response.
A sign advises a bar closure hangs due to widespread power outages in the Plaza Midwood neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, on December 24, 2022. Duke Energy began rolling blackouts on the energy grid due to higher demand from extreme low temp (LOGAN CYRUS/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"I didn’t receive an apology," one Twitter user wrote. "Bet the governor and regulators did. A simple warning that we’d be without power would have been nice. Instead, we awakened on Christmas Eve morning to one of the coldest days of the year with no power. Then had to search on line (sic) to find out why."
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"I did not receive an apology," someone else tweeted. "I did not receive compensation for being without power or heat on Christmas Eve. Intentionally being without power or HEAT in 5 degree frigid weather."
A view of the substation while work is in progress as tens of thousands are without power on Moore County after an attack at two substations by Duke Electric were shot at in Carthage NC, United States on December 05, 2022. (Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
One individual even called on Duke Energy's board of directors to be fined and arrested over the ordeal.
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The Christmas Eve blackouts occurred weeks after two Duke Energy substations in Moore County, North Carolina, were damaged by gunfire from vandals, resulting in power outages for some 45,000 customers.