Duke Energy Weathers Worst Storm In Region’s History

CINCINNATI, OHIO - Duke Energy is nearing the completion of restoration of over 700,000 customer outages from last Sunday’s historic wind storm. Duke Energy estimates that approximately 99 percent of the storm related outages will be restored tonight. However, some isolated and scattered outages will remain, and Duke will continue to work into Monday with those customers on an individual basis until they are restored. Outages remaining will include damaged meter box equipment, hard to reach areas, extensive individual repairs and newly reported cases.

To ensure that every remaining outage is accounted for, Duke Energy is asking customers to call if they face the following situations:

* You have not called Duke to report a current outage, or
* You are the only home without power in your neighborhood.

Call Duke Energy at 513-651-4182 or 1-800-543-5599.

“Our crews will continue to work around the clock until all customers are restored. I am proud of our team’s heroic storm response efforts to complete repairs for over 700,000 customers since last Sunday’s worst storm in the history of this region,” said Sandra Meyer, president of Duke Energy Ohio and Kentucky.

Duke is asking customers who still do not have power to call because completed repairs may not have restored service to all customers in the same neighborhood. This may occur because not all circuits may have been reported by customers. Also, customers may have damage to the individual house line that affects only their home.

“We deeply thank our customers for their patience and the many kind words throughout this crisis. Those words of encouragement have boosted morale during the long hours that our employees have worked to restore power for our customers,” Meyer added.

During this final stage of restoration, Duke continues to have over 2,200 people working in the field with the skills to complete the remaining repairs. As specialized storm restoration work is completed, some crews will be released because their skills, like high-voltage transmission line work, are no longer needed for the remaining repairs.

Duke Energy donated $150,000 last week to non-profit organizations that can help customers in need of assistance. Special needs customers can call the following numbers:

* United Way of Greater Cincinnati at 2-1-1 for crisis and social services assistance
* Cincinnati Area Senior Services at 513-721-4330
* Council on Aging at 513-721-1025
* Cincinnati Area Chapter of the American Red Cross at 513-579-3000 \
* The Hamilton County Hotline at 513-263-8200
* Cincinnati-Hamilton Community Action Agency at 513-569-1840\
* Freestore Foodbank at 513-482-4500, and
* People Working Cooperatively at 513-351-7921.

Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the United States, supplies and delivers electricity to approximately 4 million U.S. customers in its regulated jurisdictions. The company has approximately 35,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity in the Midwest and the Carolinas, and natural gas distribution services in Ohio and Kentucky. In addition, Duke Energy has more than 4,000 megawatts of electric generation in Latin America, and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company.