RALEIGH, N.C., Sept. 6 NC-Progress-Energy
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.
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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.
SOURCE Progress Energy
