Duke Energy’s electrical grid failed the stress test. NC deserves to know why.

The lights are back on in North Carolina, but Duke Energy has left us in the dark on what caused the blackouts in the first place.

This weekend, thousands of North Carolinians lost power amid one of the coldest Christmas Eves on record. While the earliest outages were due to the high winds and downed trees, the majority of the blackouts were intentional outages from Duke Energy because of a strain on the power grid. On Saturday morning, nearly half a million North Carolinians were without power across the state.

Among the people demanding answers from Duke Energy is Governor Roy Cooper, who tweeted that he was “deeply concerned about people who lost power and who didn’t get notice about rotating outages.”

Cooper has demanded a report from Duke Energy on what went wrong. We’re glad he did — the public deserves answers as to why the largest electric provider in the nation was so underprepared for a cold front that was both expected and milder compared to other extreme weather events, like hurricanes or blizzards.

Duke Energy customers, who make up about 3.7 million accounts in the state, were in the dark about the outages from the jump. Although the company communicated that residents needed to conserve energy and prepare for rolling blackouts, there was little communication to customers who were about to experience those outages.

The blackouts were supposed to only last 15 to 30 minutes, but appeared to last hours for many customers. If this was the case, customers and their loved ones should have been given notice immediately, so that they could have prepared to stay warm or find somewhere to go.

It isn’t clear why these rolling blackouts needed to happen, aside from the general understanding that it was taking more power than normal to heat residential homes. In spite of this, many commercial buildings were likely closed for the holiday and either weren’t using the energy or could have withstood power outages without compromising safety.

What’s also notable is the lack of public officials echoing Cooper’s calls. Duke Energy is one of the biggest political spenders in North Carolina. The company spent at least $4.2 million on lobbying political causes in 2021, not including the money spent by its employee PAC, direct contributions to politicians and the unknown amount of dark money that the company gives to other political groups.

Neither NC House Speaker Tim Moore or NC Senate leader Phil Berger have commented on the matter. Lieutenant governor Mark Robinson also didn’t offer a public statement. For Duke Energy to be held accountable, more leaders need to stand up for North Carolinians and demand answers for the shortcomings of a company that has its hands on most every energy-related issue in the state. Even North Carolina’s small electric cooperatives are at the whims of the company: their largest source of power, the Catawba Nuclear Station in South Carolina, is operated by Duke Energy.

Duke’s issues happened on a weekend that is supposed to be joyous and metaphorically warm for those celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. A holiday weekend is sure to include some inconveniences, like being out of the one ingredient you need when the stores are closed. No one expects to lose power over the holidays, much less because of their energy company’s lack of preparedness.

If Duke is unable to handle the stress of an exceptionally cold weekend, North Carolinians might wonder whether the utility is prepared for other kinds of emergencies. The Environmental Protection Agency notes that extreme weather events are going to continue, thanks to climate change. If our electrical system is failing now, what about the next hurricane, large storm or exceptionally hot day that overtakes North Carolina.