The utility says, in short, don’t take it personally.
Duke spokesman Bill Norton says no specific clusters of customers were targeted.
“It’s a computerized system. It’s automated,” he said. “The system detects where there’s a challenge and brings down power there. So, it’s really automated. We can’t say, ‘Yeah keep that neighborhood online, but not that one.’ It doesn’t work that way. It’s an automated process.”
In order to preserve the power grid, the utility company had to reduce demand with rolling blackouts.
WRAL Investigates asked Duke for a map that shows which customers lost power and for how long. Similar questions are expected at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday of the state utilities commission.
The commission is investigating generator outages at plants in Roxboro and Marshall, and they’re asking about reported generator failures at the Dan River and Mayo plants.
