7:05 p.m. update: We continue to encourage members to save energy particularly Sunday morning as folks start waking up and using more energy. If rolling blackouts are needed again either Sunday or Monday morning, we will try to minimize impacts to members and keep everyone warm.
Piedmont Electric Cooperative is coordinating with Duke Energy to manage limited availability of electricity caused by nationwide extreme cold temperatures, and we are calling for conservation from cooperative members.
We are asking cooperative members for your continued engagement as energy partners. We are grateful that cooperative members have always been highly engaged energy users, taking an active role in managing home energy use. The actions you take at home to conserve, multiplied across thousands of homes, will have a significant impact on reducing demand on the grid.
In coordination with Duke Energy, electric cooperatives statewide may implement load-shedding measures. Members may experience brief interruptions to service. These temporary interruptions are necessary to reduce load and stabilize the grid to extend available power generation and maintain operations.
At Piedmont Electric, we have dispatched all of our available generation resources, distributed energy resources and capabilities. Our priority is to keep homes warm, and we will carefully manage these resources while also partnering with members on conservation efforts.
Piedmont Electric and all of North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives express profound appreciation to cooperative members for their understanding and partnership through this event. In coordination with Duke Energy, electric cooperatives will do everything they can to keep the power on for as many people as possible as conditions improve.
10:05 a.m. update: Duke has let us know that demand has reduced as temperatures have warmed and we no longer need the rolling blackouts. Power should be restored to all shortly.
We appreciate everyone’s patience and are sorry for any inconvenience.
Currently we are not forecasting the need to do this again tomorrow but we will notify members if that changes.
We still encourage members to save power as they can.
8:40 a.m. original post: Due to the frigid weather we are having, we have been asked by Duke Energy to perform rolling blackouts to manage the electric grid during peak capacity. We appreciate everyone’s patience and are sorry for any inconvenience. We are doing our best to limit these blackouts to one hour.
Please note that we plan to rotate circuits so that no one is off for more than about 20-25 minutes and that no one should be off more than once.
We encourage everyone to conserve power at this time.