On February 2, Duke Energy acknowledged the collective effort of its 4.7 million electric customers across North Carolina and South Carolina—approximately 3.8 million in North Carolina and 860,000 in South Carolina—for voluntarily reducing consumption during one of the coldest mornings of the season. Temperatures 10 to 20 degrees below normal drove peak demand higher than forecasted, yet customer actions between early morning hours helped lower peak load by an estimated 5 percent, reducing reliance on costly peaking units and sustaining stable system frequency. Gerald Wilson, vice president of grid operations, credited these reductions with preventing potential rolling outages and ensuring uninterrupted service across more than 55,100 MW of generation capacity owned by Duke Energy’s Carolinas utilities.

Duke Energy reports it remains well positioned to meet customer demand through the remainder of the cold snap, with full availability of its nuclear fleet and 95 percent operational status for its combined-cycle natural gas units. The company’s integrated planning processes have added 1,200 MW of battery storage capacity and over 500 MW of utility-scale solar in the Carolinas over the past 12 months, bolstering reserve margins above the regional reliability standard. Looking ahead, Duke Energy plans grid modernization investments totaling $3.5 billion this year, focusing on automated distribution controls, upgraded transmission corridors and expanded demand-response programs to further enhance service continuity and support the region’s economic growth.