North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives are coordinating with Duke Energy to manage limited availability of electricity caused by nationwide extreme cold temperatures, and they are calling for conservation from cooperative members.
“We are asking cooperative members for your continued engagement as energy partners,” said Nelle Hotchkiss, Senior Vice President of Association Services and Chief Operating Officer at North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives. “We are grateful that cooperative members have always been highly engaged energy users, taking an active role in managing home energy use. The actions you take at home to conserve, multiplied across thousands of homes, will have a significant impact on reducing demand on the grid.”
In coordination with Duke Energy, electric cooperatives statewide may implement load-shedding measures as required through the duration of these extreme temperatures. If these actions are necessary, members may experience brief interruptions to service. These temporary interruptions are intended to reduce load and stabilize the grid to extend available power generation and maintain operations.
“We are utilizing all of our available generation resources, distributed energy resources and capabilities,” said Amadou Fall, Senior Vice President of Power Supply and Chief Operating Officer for North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives. “Our priority is to keep homes warm, and we will carefully manage these resources while also partnering with members on conservation efforts.”
North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives express profound appreciation to cooperative members for their partnership through these cold temperatures. In coordination with Duke Energy, electric cooperatives will do everything they can to manage load in service to cooperative members.
North Carolina’s 26 electric cooperatives provide electricity and energy services to 2.5 million people in 93 of the state’s 100 counties. North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, the wholesale power provider to the state’s distribution cooperatives, maintains a power supply mix that includes owned resources, wholesale power purchases from Duke Energy and others, and new grid resources and technologies distributed across the grid.