Duke Energy Corporation

As we continue to navigate the challenges brought by Hurricane Helene, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to Duke Energy employees. I was able to go out in the field last week and saw the devastation firsthand. Your relentless effort to restore power and support our communities during this challenging time exemplifies our commitment to our customers. Every hour spent on the front lines, every obstacle overcome, and every connection reestablished is a testament to your hard work and dedication. You not only bring light back into communities but also hope and stability to those we serve. As we now prepare for Hurricane Milton, I appreciate your proactive measures to ensure our safety and readiness in facing this next obstacle. Thank you for your tireless contributions as we work together to provide a lifeline our customers rely on.

What a week it’s been, so many thoughts and emotions have run through my mind. Watching the response to Helene by so many folks from Federal, State, and local agencies, to ordinary citizens across the country donating supplies,delivering supplies to remote areas by mules and helicopters and so much more has moved me. Seeing everyone come together to help those who have lost everything gives me hope that we will get through this but will always remember and talk about it. Seeing my Duke Energy team in action has been so inspiring. Hearing stories of line workers who have damaged and even lost their homes but still coming in and working long hours to restore power for others. Or of the two line workers in Asheville who hiked 2 miles through treacherous and muddy mountain terrain to restore power to the VA hosptial. Seeing our crews come up with innovative ways to get power restored to areas where substations were destroyed, right of ways disappeared, and the places where all poles were wiped off the map or now sit in a rerouted river. I said it before,not all heroes wear capes, these heroes wear hard hats. I am proud, honored and humbled to be their leader. I got to spend some time in the field meeting with our folks and surveying the damage this week. Words, pictures, and the videos don’t do justice to what I saw with my eyes in my hometown of Asheville. I am not sure there is even a way to describe it … Devastation, Catastrophic, Unfathomable, etc. The look on people’s faces, shell shocked as they tried to sort through what used to be their homes and businesses through mountains of debris and mud was heartbreaking. Mountain folks are resilient and they will recover but this won’t be easy and will take time. As we finalize restoration to the over 3.3M Duke customers who lost power, we turn our attention to those customers in the mountains of NC that cannot get power or are in areas where the infrastructure needs complete rebuilding. We will be setting up a rebuild command center in Asheville where we will work with State and Federal officials to expedite infrastructure repairs. We will not rest until we have power to all these customers. Looking to the future, I know the cameras and news reporters will fade away, onto the next news story. But rest assured Duke Energy will remain to serve, and help these communities like we have for over 100 years. I thank everyone for their patience and overwhelming support of our employees. Together we will get through this.

The substation along Swannanoa River - which powers the Biltmore Village area in Asheville, N.C. - suffered substantial damages caused by #Helene. The damage is so severe that the station cannot be repaired – it must be completely torn down and rebuilt. While crews plan the rebuild, a 200,000-pound mobile substation will serve as a temporary solution, serving nearly 7,000 customers in the area. State agencies have helped navigate logistical challenges, including inspecting bridges in the Asheville area to support moving the mobile substation into place. 🎥A Duke Energy mobile substation and damage footage of the existing substation in Asheville, N.C. that will need to be rebuilt.

Journeyman lineworker Matt Martinka and line apprentice Nathan Curlee hiked rough terrain to help get the VA hospital in Asheville, N.C., back up and running. Power was restored through a temporary line while its primary power infrastructure is rebuilt. Helping our hardest-hit communities recover after #Helene is a mission that is deeply personal to so many of our boots on the ground.

“Power restoration is challenging on a good day in these remote areas with rough terrain. And then you take a hurricane that’s typically on the coast and you put it in the mountains? It’s rebuilding an entire community, not just electric infrastructure—we’re talking roads, we’re talking water, we’re talking everything.” - Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks speaking with Garden & Gun Magazine, LLC Our crews are encountering challenging conditions as they work to assess the totality of damage to our equipment in the North Carolina mountain zone. In the areas where catastrophic damage exists – where homes can’t receive power, and total grid infrastructure damage and lack of access exists – 105,000 customers are without power. We are working closely with North Carolina state government agencies on plans to address areas these as quickly as possible. #HeleneNC 🎥 Chimney Rock, N.C.

Our crews continue to work around the clock in the hardest hit communities in the Carolinas. Between shifts, they're recharging at camps like the one at Haywood Mall in Greenville, S.C. The site can feed 700 lineworkers and other personnel at a time with hot and boxed meals. The camp also provides a place to sleep, shower and do laundry. More than 2,000 workers from across the country have been stationed at the camp. We've worked with community partners - including Western Piedmont Community College and Woodmont High School - to stand up similar camps for the nearly 20,000 personnel working to restore power in Upstate South Carolina and western North Carolina. We are grateful for their support and the incredible work and dedication of our crews throughout the #Helene recovery. 🎥 Haywood Mall Basecamp in Greenville, S.C.

Journeyman lineworker Tyler Manick says it best. #Helene

To aid with recovery from #Helene, the Duke Energy Foundation announced a $1 million commitment to nonprofits providing vital assistance to affected communities across the Southeast. Funding will aid a variety of organizations providing food, shelter and other urgent needs, ensuring that relief efforts reach those who need it most. The Foundation will continue making donations for evolving needs as communities recover and nonprofits stand up their short- and long-term efforts. This additional funding builds on the Foundation’s work ahead of the storm and year-round commitment to preparedness and resiliency. Annually, the Duke Energy Foundation provides more than $30 million in philanthropic support to meet the needs of the communities where we live and work.

Historic is a word that is reserved for those events people will talk about for decades to come. This past week Hurricane Helene struck our entire Duke Energy service territory with historic impact. Never have we had a storm hit all 6 of our states, never have we had over 3M customer outages, never have we seen the damage in Upstate SC to this extent, never have we experienced storm surge at the levels we saw on the west coast of Florida, never have we seen lake levels rise this high, and never have we seen such devasting floods in my home town of Asheville, NC and across the mountains of NC. My heart goes out to all the citizens and communities across the southeast, some of whom lost everything. Events like this test us all, but also brings us all together to help each other. So many stories of ordinary people doing heroic things to help friends, family members and strangers. This spirit of helping each other and rebuilding together is what makes our country great. I am so proud of the 27,000 teammates at Duke Energy and over 15,000 utility partners from across the US and Canada, who have stepped up to execute a historic response. So far, we have restored power to over 2.3M customers and our plans are to have the majority of all customers impacted that can receive power back by Friday. This won't be an easy task, as the areas we are working in have significant damage and in some cases will require a rebuild of our infrastructure. In upstate SC alone we estimate replacing 6000 poles. In the mountains of western NC, flooding has made access difficult and also wiped-out parts of our infrastructure. Our team understands the role power plays in helping our communities begin the long road to recovery and will not stop until everyone has been restored. I thank our customers for their patience, and I thank our State and Federal partners for all the support and assistance. We are in this together and together we will complete a historic recovery from this historic event.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, our thoughts are with the communities devastated by this powerful storm. I want to commend our dedicated teams who continue to work tirelessly to restore power and ensure safety. Our commitment to our customers goes beyond service; it’s about supporting our communities in their recovery. Together, we will rebuild and emerge stronger.