Duke Energy personnel are prepared to respond to the potential of a severe weather icing event threatening the Tri-State.

“We continue to closely monitor this weather system and are ready to respond should outages occur,” said Jim Stanley, Duke Energy’s senior vice president, power delivery. “We have contacted state and local emergency management officials, inventoried supplies, prepared our employees and are coordinating closely with neighboring utilities regarding outside crews and supplies.

Stanley emphasized that significant accumulation of ice can result in downed power lines, and that customers should stay away from all lines as well as trees, tree limbs or any structure that the lines may be touching.

When outages occur, Duke Energy focuses restoration efforts in the following sequence, many of which occur simultaneously:

• Public safety-related situations such as de-energizing live lines
• Emergency service facilities, including hospitals and fire departments
• Critical infrastructure – water and sewer facilities
• Distribution feeder lines, often referred to as the “backbone” of the system
• Neighborhood lines that connect the backbone to individual locations
• Transformers and individual service lines

This sequence enables power restoration to public health and safety facilities and to the greatest number of locations in the shortest length of time.

We encourage our customers to prepare for any outage situation:

• Keep a supply of bottled water and non-perishable food items on hand.
• Check first aid supplies and medicines.
• Make sure that flashlights or other sources of light are readily available.
• Ensure that flashlight and radio batteries are fresh.
• Ensure that if you are a customer with special needs that you have identified an alternate location should an extended outage occur.
• Homeowners with wells should draw an emergency water supply in case electric water pumps are affected.

The quickest way for customers to report power outages is by calling 800-543-5599. Outages reported on this line are routed automatically to those responsible for responding to them. Additional storm tips and outage information can be found on the Duke Energy web at: //www.duke-energy.com/.

Duke Energy Ohio and Kentucky’s operations provide electricity to approximately 820,000 customers and natural gas service to approximately 500,000 customers.

Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power holding companies in the United States. Its regulated utility operations serve approximately 4 million customers located in five states in the Southeast and Midwest, representing a population of approximately 11 million people. Its commercial power and international business segments own and operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing portfolio of renewable energy assets in the United States.

Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power holding companies in the United States. Its regulated utility operations serve approximately 4 million customers located in five states in the Southeast and Midwest, representing a population of approximately 11 million people. Its commercial power and international business segments own and operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing portfolio of renewable energy assets in the United States