Did Duke Energy exempt customers with medical risks from Christmas Eve blackouts?
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include additional information from a Duke Energy spokesperson late Friday night.
Duke Energy says it is still reviewing whether customers with specific medical needs were exempted during rolling blackouts.
Around half a million people in the Carolinas were without power after Duke Energy implemented rolling outages on Christmas Eve, during one of the region’s coldest holiday weekends in recent years.
Before the blackouts began, some equipment Duke Energy relies on to generate power for millions either stopped producing energy or produced less than expected, officials confirmed on Thursday. That, in addition to a spike in energy demand during the severe weather, necessitated the action, officials have said.
Many who lost power for hours took to social media to express their anger with the company’s decision, including some with loved ones who depend on electricity for medical care.
Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton told The Charlotte Observer Friday night that the utility company reached out to customers on its Medical Alert program days before the blackouts began encouraging preparation for possible weather-related service interruptions.
“On Dec. 21, Duke Energy reached out to customers on our Medical Alert program through text messages and phone calls,” Norton said in a statement. “The messages acknowledged a member of the household as dependent on electric-powered life support equipment, advised them of extreme weather forecasted and asked them to plan ahead in case of extended outages. The messages also included information on how to report outages.”
Norton, however, said it is unclear whether special needs customers were spared from service interruptions during its system-wide rolling blackouts. Norton said the company is “gathering details and will share that information” in a meeting with the N.C. Utilities Commission on Jan. 3.
Utility companies are required to keep a list of households whose residents have special medical needs, according to the N.C. Department of Justice.
Duke Energy does allow individuals with medical needs to enroll in the company’s Medically Essential Program. The initiative provides customers with special medical needs “careful handling of accounts where the disconnection of electric service for a past-due bill could adversely affect the well-being of an occupant,” the company’s website states.
According to the website, “Medically Essential may be assigned to a customer’s account if a member of the customer’s household is chronically or seriously ill, handicapped or on a life support system.”
However, the program does not guarantee customers will not have their power disconnected or interrupted because of an outage, according to Duke Energy.
Duke Energy suggests that customers with medical needs make arrangements in advance for outages that last extended periods of time due to storms and other causes, according to their website.
For more information about the Medically Essential Program or other assistance options, customers can call Duke Energy at 800-777-9898 or visit Duke-Energy.com.
This story was originally published December 30, 2022 at 1:09 PM with the headline "Did Duke Energy exempt customers with medical risks from Christmas Eve blackouts?."
