Duke Energy urges customers to stay safe as Tropical Storm Nicole moves through Florida

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Duke Energy Florida is urging customers to take precautions as Tropical Storm Nicole continues to move through Florida today, cutting power to thousands of customers.

"Safety is our first concern after every storm," said Todd Fountain Duke Energy Florida's storm director. "Our crews are ready to begin power restoration as soon as weather conditions safely allow. I thank our customers for their patience and urge everyone to take the necessary precautions to protect your family and property."

Restoring power after a storm can be extremely challenging for repair crews, as travel and work conditions can be impacted by high winds and potential flooding – making repair work lengthy and difficult in some areas.

For employee safety, Duke Energy line technicians do not perform elevated work in bucket trucks when winds are excessive. When the storm passes and wind speeds drop below 39 miles per hour making it safe for travel, crews will begin damage assessment and repairs.

The safety of our customers and communities is important. Duke Energy encourages customers to take the following steps in the event they lose power.

What to do if power goes out

Flooding and Electrical Safety

More tips on what to do during and after a storm can be found at duke-energy.com/StormTips.

Power restoration process

Duke Energy restores power in a sequence starting with public health and safety facilities and equipment that restores the greatest number of customers. Click here for more information on how Duke Energy restores power.

Estimated restoration times – once determined for specific areas – will be posted at duke-energy.com/outages/current-outages.

Customers who are registered to receive Duke Energy text outage alerts will receive a text once an estimated restoration time is established for their location.

Outage Reporting

Customers who experience a power outage can report it the following ways:

For storm or power restoration updates, follow Duke Energy on Twitter (@DukeEnergy) and Facebook (Duke Energy) or visit dukeenergyupdates.com.

Duke Energy Florida

Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 10,300 megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 1.9 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across a 13,000-square-mile service area in Florida.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 28,000 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company has interim carbon emission targets of at least 50% reduction from electric generation by 2030, 50% for Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions by 2035, and 80% from electric generation by 2040. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2022 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes’ "World's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Bill NortonCell: 704.763.6059Media line: 800.559.3853

Florida, Emergency Response, Storms and Outages, Customers