North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives are encouraging consumer-members to continue to conserve energy throughout the day while extreme cold weather persists. By making changes like lowering the thermostat and delaying the use of electric appliances when possible, cooperative members can help avoid service interruptions due to limited availability of electricity.
“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 and interruptions to service. We deeply appreciate your partnership and understanding this holiday weekend.”
Some steps that cooperative members can take to conserve energy include:
- Delay the use of large appliances like dishwashers and dryers
- Lower your thermostat a few degrees
- Turn off any unnecessary lights
“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 coordinating with Duke Energy and partnering with members on conservation efforts.”
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.