PINEHURST — Nearly half the over 2,700 Randolph Electric customers affected by the weekend damage to Moore County’s power grid have regained power and Duke Energy crews have restored power to nearly 7,000 customers since Sunday night. As of Monday, approximately 38,000 Duke customers in the area remain without power – down from 45,000. Randolph EMC said in a release that the Moore County outage has affected 2,768 members and co-op has restored power to 1,276 total members at various times and for a limited duration. Randolph EMC has implemented a rotating restoration process for parts of the outage area.
Duke Energy said in a press release that its crews were working to restore service quickly and safely, but many affected customers should prepare for an outage that could extend to Thursday, Dec. 8.
“We are restoring customers where possible, but the damage is beyond repair in some areas. That leaves us with no option but to replace large pieces of equipment – which is not an easy or quick task,” said Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy’s general manager, Emergency Preparedness. “Duke Energy is committed to getting life back to normal for our customers. We thank them for their patience.”
Electric substations serve to regulate voltage coming from power plants and other energy sources before it can be delivered to end users.
Duke Energy asked customers to turn off appliances and other devices that were on when the power went out so there’s not a surge on the system when power is restored.
The company continues to work with local, state and federal agencies on their ongoing investigation into this incident.
Randolph EMC said its crews continue to work on the multi-day, extended outage and that some members will experience periods of restored power, followed by periods of power loss. Since the transmission line failure, REMC crews have worked around the clock to upgrade to build lines to deliver electric service but the system REMC is building can provide power for intervals of time but not continuously.
On Monday, Randolph EMC crews began building a new tie line and erected poles to cover almost three miles of territory. Once complete, the new tie line will allow REMC to provide power to additional customers.
According to a Monday press release, Randolph EMC has all crews working and has acquired additional contractor crews to complete the construction work and anticipates the work may take until Wednesday to provide power at varying times to most of the impacted customers.
“I want to commend our team for working around the clock and finding a creative solution to bring power to our members,” said Dale Lambert, REMC CEO in a press release. “Our hearts go out to those affected by this criminal attack on the grid. We will get you power as quickly and safely as possible.”
For those impacted by the outage, Moore County has opened an emergency shelter at 155 Hillcrest Park in Carthage. If transportation is needed to the shelter, call 910-947-6317.
