As of 2 p.m. on January 26, Duke Energy crews have successfully restored service to 131,059 customers across North Carolina and South Carolina following Winter Storm Fern. The company reports only 21,976 customers remain without power, down from a peak of over 150,000 outages. Restoration efforts have focused on transmission lines, substations and main distribution feeders first, with most outages expected to be resolved by the end of the day. In more remote and mountainous regions—such as Hendersonville, Travelers Rest and Clemson—crews anticipate final restorations to extend into Tuesday due to hazardous road conditions and heavier storm damage.

Duke Energy serves roughly 4.7 million electric customers in the Carolinas and has mobilized over 18,000 lineworkers, vegetation specialists and storm support personnel from 27 states and Canada. To date, the company has deployed self-healing grid technology to reroute power around damaged equipment and is staging additional mutual-aid crews, including 500 workers from its Florida division, ready to arrive by Tuesday if needed. Customers in North Carolina account for 93,609 restorations and 10,554 active outages, while South Carolina figures stand at 37,450 restorations and 11,422 without power.

With colder-than-normal temperatures keeping heating systems running longer, Duke Energy is urging customers who have power to reduce consumption through simple adjustments: lowering thermostats by a few degrees, checking and replacing air filters, opening blinds during daylight hours to benefit from passive solar gain and reversing ceiling fans to a clockwise setting to distribute warm air. These low-cost measures can help limit bill increases during a week when peak demand is projected to rise by up to 15 percent compared to seasonal averages.