Horry County electric companies cut power to thousands in historic cold snap. Here’s why.
South Carolina’s largest energy providers are back to normal operations, ensuring consistent power to thousands of households that saw rolling outages on Christmas Eve Day.
Duke Energy, Santee Cooper and Horry County Electric Cooperative all announced an end to 30-minute controlled blackouts implemented Saturday.
UPDATE: Emergency rotating outages have concluded in the Carolinas. Restoration for interrupted service should be completed today. Please continue to conserve energy without sacrificing safety. We appreciate your understanding and patience: https://t.co/S7qkdHqiaD. pic.twitter.com/R35tAF9Sq4
— Duke Energy (@DukeEnergy) December 24, 2022
WBTW-TV reported that more than a half million customers across the Carolinas were left without power at some point as the most punishing arctic front in a generation gripped the region.
“This winter blast and customer demand has been unprecedented in recent history of our region and company,” Jason Hollifield, Carolinas Storm Director, said in a statement. “Like other utilities, Duke Energy took action to protect the overall energy grid — avoiding damage that could have meant even longer outages.”
As of 9 a.m. Sunday, 5,912 Duke Carolinas customers were without power, mostly in clusters around the Charlotte area.
A day earlier at the same time, 548,229 users found themselves in the dark as the utility implemented its grid control efforts, according to its outage tracker.
Horry County Electric Cooperative, which serves nearly 90,000 customers in South Carolina’s fastest growing county, saw 2,500 outages on Friday and 1,000 by 3 p.m. on Saturday.
“Curtailing electricity — even for short periods like this morning — is the last thing we want to do during the holidays,” Robert Hochstetler, CEO of Central Electric Power Cooperative, said in a statement. “We’re working closely with Santee Cooper and Duke Energy to minimize inconvenience to co-op members while keeping the system sound.”
Duke Energy asks people to reduce energy use on Christmas after ending temporary outages
The Columbia-based Central aggregates power to its 20 member cooperatives, which includes Horry County’s utility.
Meanwhile, South Carolina’s state-owned power provider Santee Cooper reported less than five of its nearly 200,000 customers had no electricity as of 9 a.m. Sunday, but officials posted an advisory urging people to conserve.
“The extreme cold is stressing the Santee Cooper system. We need our customers and our co-op customers to conserve as much as they can to maintain system reliability. Remember, your HVAC uses the most energy in your home,” the message stated.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, South Carolina uses more than twice as much energy as it produces, with the residential sector accounting for nearly 40% of all electric retail sales.
