Duke Energy’s storm team grows to 2,850 with 150 new workers; Company communicator, embedded with crew, reports live from New York

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Duke Energy, the nation’s largest electric utility, today deployed 150 additional workers to help other utilities in eight states restore power to 4.7 million homes and businesses in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Duke Energy’s storm team now totals 2,850 employees and contractors working in Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio.

Duke Energy communicator Lee Freedman – embedded in New York City with a Duke Energy underground power repair crew – is posting live updates on Twitter @leefreedman. Freedman also is blogging on Duke Energy’s http://www.sheddingalight.com web site.

The 20 Duke Energy technicians with whom Freedman is embedded specialize in repairing major underground power systems like those damaged by record floodwaters in Manhattan.

“We want to give the public a realistic sense of the rough conditions and long days facing crews as they re-power America’s largest city,” Freedman said. “They’re confronting some of the most complex repair challenges ever faced by the utility industry, yet they consider it a true honor to help with the restoration effort.”

Duke Energy is the largest electric power holding company in the United States with more than $100 billion in total assets. Its regulated utility operations serve approximately 7.1 million electric customers located in six states in the Southeast and Midwest. 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.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 250 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available at: www.duke-energy.com.