Duke Energy would rather you not know the extent that they had to go to restore power after Thursday's storms.
But this is just a very small portion of the hundred or so trucks brought into help overwhelmed Duke Energy Crews restore power.
Crews from Florida were brought in early Friday to help repair damaged power lines throughout the Charlotte area.
The 48 hour effort wrapped up just after 8 p.m. Saturday with crews staging at South Charlotte's Calvary Church before they convoyed down I-485 en route to I-77 and eventually I-95 to head back to Florida.
In 1992 then Duke Power decided to contract with a single "High Line" contractor Floyd S. Pike. The result was the bankruptcy of a dozen other High Line operations throughout the Carolinas.
Pike went on the control the majority of high line work in the Southeast. The company went public in 2005 and is now traded on the NYSE.
But the good ole boy relationship with Duke Energy is still strong, which might explain why Duke Energy is firmly opposed to the relocation of power lines in Charlotte from overhead to underground.
The massive costs of Thursday's storm will be passed along to Duke Customers in the form of overtime and natural disaster pricing by outside contractors simply because Pike doesn't have the manpower to deal with even the smallest storms.
Imagine if Hurricane Hugo happened today, could Duke Energy handle the job of rebuilding our electrical grid? Doubtful, shockingly doubtful.
17 comments:
Stick with floating drunk tourists around Charleston Bay and let Duke Energy worry about energy needs. So what? They got a little help.
The fact is, almost every power utility company across the country depends on the well established Mutual Assistance Network to get help restoring power after their power grid is damaged by storms.
Now, don't you have a hull to scrape?
I agree with you 8:35. Everyone bitches when the power goes out but imagine having to pay for maintaining all those repair trucks the majority of the rest of the time? Ridiculous.
Better to ask for help from your fellow utilities when the need arises.
How exactly did Duke Energy "hide" the extent they went to restore power? Google "Duke Energy Press Releases" and you'll see they announced supplemental workers plus more info after each storm event.
I hate it when people fabricate drama......
I think Cedar is dead on.
Duke's pr effort is self serving bs.
A thunderstorm puts 100,000 homes in the dark because Duke refuses to bury their lines.
8:45 you make it out to be a "yo buddy can you lend a hand" when it is more like "how much cash do you need to help us before the state utilities commission call us on this outage".
Duke Energy has been running their "green and clean" pr bs for weeks now to justify a huge rate increase. A rate increase they need to meet 1999 clean air standards that they have put off for nearly two decades.
Just bs!
8:35 what is your issue? Are you suffering from penis envy or boat envy? I suspect both! So what the guy owns a bunch of boats in Charleston. Good for him, and sad for you, your jon boat sank at the dock.
I wondered why Duke would not bury the power lines.
I called Duke a couple of years ago to see about burying the lines in my back yard. We have had unexplained illnesses that made me wonder about the overhead lines. They will do it, but you have to pay for your own, and it is expensive, so I could not get it done, plus the neighboring lots would still be overhead.
According to the link below, it looks like there are health concerns with overhead lines. Does anyone know anything more about this?
http://retasite.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/new-report-confirms-health-risks-of-overhead-high-voltage-power-lines/
9:17- How exactly is Duke's PR campaign self serving? They readily admit the power outages and say they called in help for restoration efforts. Plus their website gives live updates of the number of customers without power by county. Wow! Self-serving? Ha!
BTW, buried power lines are not without their share of problems.
Buried cable costs about a million dollars per mile. Just think how much people bitch when gas goes up a nickel per gallon?
Do the math moron........
9:17- Yes, CP should stick to writing articles about things he actually knows something about. Limited as that may be. Then we can call it a micro blog.
2:14 Wrong moron the actual cost of undergrounding varies from as little as $80,000 per mile in rural areas to over $2,000,000.00 per mile in cities.
I expect that undergrounding the distribution line along Rea Road would have been next to nothing yet Duke simply relocated the poles even though the frequency of outages is 1/2 that of overhead.
In a city that prides itself of the esthetic appeal of tree lined streets Duke Energy is no hero.
Everytime there is a power outage this same issue comes up. The Duke Energy drones tow the oump any line and the progressives recite the mantra of the Sierra Culb.
The fact of the matter is that Duke Energy is a terriable steward of our lakes, trees and air. Overhead distribution lines are just the start.
There is no reason Duke and developers should not be forced to bury power lines in EVERY new neighborhood that gets approval for zoning. They complain about up front costs. They want to build every square inch up to the street, no matter the danger to pedestrians or tree loss or visual clutter. At least when Council is rubber-stamping every new development or re-development they can, they could require underground electrical as standard.
Personally, I'm happy with Duke Energy and the service they provide. At least they're a regulated utility unlike old charter boat captains writing a blog who think they're journalists.......
For all I know the pictures of those trucks show In this blog post were taken 2 years ago. It doesn't mean anything.
Power has been restored....... Go back to your tug boat.
Not to change the subject, but the first whistleblower is from Charlotte. (Whistleblower statement links listed on left side of article)
http://www.propublica.org/article/bank-of-america-lied-to-homeowners-and-rewarded-foreclosures
Cedar, please call out BOA on the $500 bonus for 10 foreclosures and strategic delays causing foreclosures. This is nuts.
Overhead lines wouldn't be such a problem if Duke would spend anytime maintaining the right of ways. I live in an older neigbhorhood and when I arrived here the power was off more than it was on (seriously). The homes are served from the rear yards and you couldn't see the lines for the vines growing on them and trees around them. Repeated calls to Duke did not accomplish anything. Calls to media outlets and a little bad press worked wonders though. The day after the story aired, the streets were lined with power crews. They cleared the right of way and ran new lines. That's been over 5 years ago and they haven't been back since to maintain the new lines.
This fiber optic system works by using optical power from a laser diode (LD in diagram) is split by the optical coupler and is diffused through an optical fiber ring in two counter directional paths.
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