Duke Energy apologizes for texts and emails that prompted concern about blackouts

The Charlotte-based utility company was trying to encourage conservation, not warn about possible outages, it says

The following article appeared in the Jan. 5, 2024, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.

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Duke Energy blasted texts and emails to customers asking to conserve power, then apologized for the scare; ‘there are no concerns about grid reliability at this time’

by Cristina Bolling

Duke Energy took the unusual step Thursday evening of mass-texting and emailing customers across Charlotte, alerting them that energy demand would be high this morning and asking them to minimize power consumption between 6 and 9 a.m.

It was enough to raise worry among many that a repeat of the rolling blackouts of Christmas Eve 2022 was coming and prompted the question of whether the utility company was unprepared to handle slightly below-average temperatures. 

Temperatures in Charlotte were expected to fall to 25 degrees early Friday morning — just six degrees colder than the city’s average low for January, which is 31 degrees. 

Within hours of Thursday’s texts and emails, however, Duke Energy was clarifying its message and trying to calm fears of power outages. A company spokesperson sent this statement to The Ledger Thursday night: