Progress Energy Crews Restoring Service Quickly After Hanna
September 06 2008 - 1:44PM
PR Newswire (US)
RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Progress Energy
has restored electric service to tens of thousands of customers in
the wake of Tropical Storm Hanna, and an army of company and
contract crews is focusing on those still without power. (Logo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020923/CHM008LOGO-c ) As of
noon, an estimated 33,800 customers were without power. Most
remaining outages are in coastal areas and the coastal plain,
though scattered outages also remain as far west as the Triangle
and Sandhills. All South Carolina customers have been restored.
North Carolina counties with the largest numbers of power outages
at noon are New Hanover (6,600); Wayne (5,000); Craven (3,000);
Columbus (1,800); Robeson (1,800); Brunswick (1,700); Pamlico
(1,400); Wake (1,400); Lenoir (1,300); Nash (1,300); Beaufort
(1,100); Chatham (1,100). Outages are scattered elsewhere. Progress
Energy expects to restore service to most customers by midnight
tonight, with restoration in particularly hard-hit areas expected
to be completed by Sunday at midnight. The rolling nature of the
storm meant that new outages were being reported this morning even
as crews in other areas were restoring service. Between midnight
and noon today, company and contract crews had restored service to
more than 143,000 customers. The largest number of customers
without power at any one time was approximately 55,000 at 8 a.m.
today. Tropical Storm Hanna came ashore at 3:20 a.m., bringing high
winds and heavy rains to much of Progress Energy Carolinas' service
area. Progress Energy has supplemented the normal complement of 300
line & service and tree crews in Eastern North Carolina with
more than 150 additional line and tree personnel and scores of
additional damage assessors and support staff. Additional crews are
scheduled to move east, if needed, once outages in the Triangle and
Sandhills are cleared. Progress Energy works to minimize storm
impacts year-round through preventive maintenance, including
trimming of trees around the company's 6,000 miles of transmission
lines and 60,000 miles of electric distribution lines. Wind-blown
trees and limbs are the leading cause of power outages during
storms. Customers and media can find outage information on Progress
Energy's Web site at http://www.progress-energy.com/outagemap.
During major events such as storms, the map will be updated several
times a day. The quickest way to report an outage during a storm is
to call the automated outage-reporting system at 1-800-419-6356.
For the latest information, visit Progress Energy's storm site
online at http://www.progress-energy.com/storm. Progress Energy,
headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 250 energy company
with more than 21,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $9
billion in annual revenues. The company will observe a century of
operation in 2008. Progress Energy includes two major utilities
that serve 3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida.
Progress Energy is the 2006 recipient of the Edison Electric
Institute's Edison Award, the industry's highest honor, in
recognition of its operational excellence. The company also is the
first utility to receive the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates
Founder's Award for customer service. Progress Energy serves two
fast-growing areas of the country, and the company is pursuing a
balanced approach to meeting the future energy needs of the region.
That balance includes increased energy efficiency programs,
investments in renewable energy technologies and a state-of-the-art
electricity system. For more information about Progress Energy,
visit the company's Web site at http://www.progress-energy.com/.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020923/CHM008LOGO-c
http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Progress Energy CONTACT:
Progress Energy Corporate Communications 24-Hour Media Line,
1-877-641-NEWS (6397) Web site: http://www.progress-energy.com/
http://www.progress-energy.com/outagemap
http://www.progress-energy.com/storm
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