Progress Energy Crews Continue Quick Restoration of Service After Hanna
September 06 2008 - 5:27PM
PR Newswire (US)
RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fewer than 10,000
Progress Energy customers remain without electricity 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 4
p.m., an estimated 9,300 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.
"Our storm plan is working well and the crews in the field are
doing an excellent job of safely and quickly restoring power," said
Hershell McCarty, Progress Energy Carolinas' system storm
coordinator. "We know any outage is unwelcome for our customers and
we appreciate their patience as we get the lights back on." North
Carolina counties with the largest numbers of power outages at 4
p.m. are New Hanover (1,900); Wayne (1,200); Craven (1,150);
Columbus (800); Robeson (700); and Duplin (600). 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 4 p.m. today, company and
contract crews had restored service to more than 178,000 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:
Corporate Communications 24-Hour Media Line, 1-877-641-NEWS (6397)
Web site: http://www.progress-energy.com/
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