Frustrated Duke Power Customers Want Answers

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By Jennifer Julian

Duke Power now says it hopes to have the power back on to all of its customers not by Wednesday, as was once the target, but Saturday-- and the company won't even guarantee that!

Duke Power says that northeast Durham and RTP should have power by Friday at midnight. The company won't promise power to the rest of Durham and Chapel Hill until Saturday. They told Eyewitness News those dates represent both a "worst case scenario" and an estimate that's not guaranteed.

The state wants to shed some light on why so many Duke Power customers are still in the dark. The Public Utilities Commission launched an investigation into Duke and all the state's power companies. They are asking each to explain how they planned for the storm and responded to it. The commission will also hold hearings. They'll respond with recommendations for change or possible fines.

Frustration is growing among Duke Power customers, who are now demanding to know why they don't have power and when it'll be restored. Eyewitness News did some investigating to see just how equipped Duke Power really was to handle such a crisis.

Kevin Hardt's powerless. His neighbors have left, he's cold and he says his power company has abandoned him. "I've not seen one Duke Power truck in this neighborhood, much less Roxboro Road."

Hardt's memorized the update line for Duke Power. He calls it several times a day. "Thousands of crews continue to work around the clock to restore power to the thousands of customers left without power during the ice storm."

Both of the Triangle's major power companies CP&L and Duke Power faced a daunting task. Trees hobbled power lines. Roads were blocked and ice was a hazard for days.

Both companies told customers it would take several days to restore power. But CP&L seems to be making more progress. By Saturday, it had restored power to about 67 percent of its Wake and Johnston County customers. Duke had turned on the lights for 29 percent of its customers.

Robin Cutson wasn't one of them. "We want competition. We want CP&L, we want Progress Energy. We want the choice when we say we don't like your service. Duke Power doesn't seem to be able to handle emergencies; they don't have the personnel. They knew the storm was coming. They could have ramped up some efforts to get trucks here."

There's a good reason Kevin and Robin haven't seen many Duke Power trucks in Durham. There aren't many. Duke Power would not give Eyewitness News specific numbers. They do say on a good day, they contract much of their work to other companies. "They contract their service work. It's a little strange to me a service company can't provide service."

Robin Cutson says Duke Power doesn't provide enough information. "Duke Power will not provide information on where crews will be. That's a problem when people are trying to make plans not for a social engagement, but for survival."

Duke Power still says 90 percent of all power should be restored by Wednesday night. Kevin Hardt fears he's not part of that estimate.

Another blow to Duke Power customers: now the energy giant says it isn't ruling out charging customers for the cost of turning the power back on. The company expects those costs to exceed $24 million. Last Friday, company officials told Eyewitness News that was not an option. Progress Energy says it will not pass on those costs to customers.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2002

Answers

Here in the midwest, the costs of turning customers back on is not passed back to the customers. It is the cost of doing business, they have it built into their rate structure. They might use that as an excuse the next time they go before the rate board, but it certainly will never be the primary excuse.

I realize that the ice storm there was exceptional, but get real, it does happen.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2002


you're right, beckie. not sure how NC power companies are set up, do they have a board they have to apply to for rate hikes?

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2002

Barefoot, I assume all states had something like that, although as states are adopting quasi-deregulation, that might be changing.

How soon do we find out how many houses have busted pipes?

-- Anonymous, December 11, 2002


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