Report of the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the Public Staff to the North Carolina Natural Disaster Preparedness Task Force : response of electric utilities to the December 2002 ice storm. - Page 110 |
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29
• Speaker, who had worked for power company for over 41 years, believes that there are not
enough tree- trimming crews today.
Infrastructure for the 21st Century
• Speaker very appreciative of the effort put forth by Duke and its employees, but does not
understand why the employees risk their lives dealing with 50- year old technology, traveling the
highways, and climbing poles. We should be moving to underground systems and the Utilities
Commission should be offering the companies guidance. The companies are monopolies
guided by business interests, but the Commission should be protecting the public’s interest. The
technology should have advanced from where it was 50- 60 years ago.
• Speaker has lived in six other states and NC is a good state. However, his power was out six
days in this storm and was out 14 days following Hurricane Hugo. He does not ever remember
his power being out in the other states. Other states have underground power lines. He
recommends that we put lines underground and accept that it will be expensive to do so.
• Speaker wants to know that something is being done to provide or create better protection for
lines and transformers in future storms and emergency events.
• Speaker with lineman experience advocates phasing out lines and using “ phasing sticks.” Has
seen “ gang- operated switches” that allow for a whole line being restored quicker with one flip of
a switch.
Communications/ Customer Service
• Nonspecific information provided by Duke to those who called the 800 number did nothing but
make customers angry and frustrated. The information available from that number was not
current. No matter when the speaker called she continued to receive a message that said over
750,000 customers are still out of power and that power should be restored by December 11.
Yet, Duke was unable to provide information about where 10,000 people were working. Duke
had to know more about the progress of its workers but the information was not made available.
• Speaker suggests a monthly or quarterly Duke newsletter to inform customers what the company
is doing post storm.
• Speaker is on a tap line with 5 other customers and this made her a low priority; yet, her bill is
not based on being on a line with only 5 customers.
• Duke communications was just about as bad as the power outage situation. Speaker gave the
names and work locations of two workers who were rude on the phone. The speaker did call a
number of times hoping for updated information which was not to be had.
Object Description
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| Title | Report of the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the Public Staff to the North Carolina Natural Disaster Preparedness Task Force : response of electric utilities to the December 2002 ice storm. - Page 110 |
| Pres Local File Path-M | \Preservation_content\StatePubs\pubs_borndigital\images_master\ |
| Full Text | 29 • Speaker, who had worked for power company for over 41 years, believes that there are not enough tree- trimming crews today. Infrastructure for the 21st Century • Speaker very appreciative of the effort put forth by Duke and its employees, but does not understand why the employees risk their lives dealing with 50- year old technology, traveling the highways, and climbing poles. We should be moving to underground systems and the Utilities Commission should be offering the companies guidance. The companies are monopolies guided by business interests, but the Commission should be protecting the public’s interest. The technology should have advanced from where it was 50- 60 years ago. • Speaker has lived in six other states and NC is a good state. However, his power was out six days in this storm and was out 14 days following Hurricane Hugo. He does not ever remember his power being out in the other states. Other states have underground power lines. He recommends that we put lines underground and accept that it will be expensive to do so. • Speaker wants to know that something is being done to provide or create better protection for lines and transformers in future storms and emergency events. • Speaker with lineman experience advocates phasing out lines and using “ phasing sticks.” Has seen “ gang- operated switches” that allow for a whole line being restored quicker with one flip of a switch. Communications/ Customer Service • Nonspecific information provided by Duke to those who called the 800 number did nothing but make customers angry and frustrated. The information available from that number was not current. No matter when the speaker called she continued to receive a message that said over 750,000 customers are still out of power and that power should be restored by December 11. Yet, Duke was unable to provide information about where 10,000 people were working. Duke had to know more about the progress of its workers but the information was not made available. • Speaker suggests a monthly or quarterly Duke newsletter to inform customers what the company is doing post storm. • Speaker is on a tap line with 5 other customers and this made her a low priority; yet, her bill is not based on being on a line with only 5 customers. • Duke communications was just about as bad as the power outage situation. Speaker gave the names and work locations of two workers who were rude on the phone. The speaker did call a number of times hoping for updated information which was not to be had. |
