GREENSBORO, N.C. — Wintry weather filled with possible precipitation and ice has many on alert.
You might have received a text or two from companies about the threat over the last few days.
One from Spectrum sent out on Friday said they are preparing for potential service outages during the storm and if you lose power, call your utility company.
The company said when there's a threat of bad weather coming into the area, it wants to ensure people are prepared to protect equipment and keep you safe.
It has a map of places you can find wifi across the state if yours goes out during extreme weather.
Another alert came from Duke Energy asking you to conserve energy on Friday. It sparked fears that we could see rolling blackouts like we saw before Christmas in 2022.
Duke Energy Spokesperson, Jeff Brooks, apologized to customers for the wording of that text.
"As we come into the winter season, we're typically seeing increased energy usage for customers, and a lot of times that usage peaks in the morning hours from about 6 am to 9 am, so we've developed energy efficiency programs to help customers save energy during these times, and that can help them save money on their bill," Jeff Brooks said. "The notification that went out last night to a little more than a million customers in North Carolina and South Carolina, was part of an educational campaign to help give them signals when energy use was going to be high so that they can make adjustments in their energy habits to save money on their bill."
Brooks said unfortunately the wording of the notification that went out, made it sound like it was more of a reliability issue, which was not the case.
"We did not have any reliability concerns for this morning," Brooks said. "It was part of an educational campaign, but the wording sounded very similar to instances where we've made appeals to customers to reduce energy use for operational reasons and that's unfortunate. We're sorry that the wording was a little confusing and created concerns. We know that on a cold day, everybody wants their electricity. They want their heat and they want to know what's going to be there. We will let you know if there's ever any reason to take conservation measures. Unfortunately, the wording of this notification sounded very similar and created some confusion."
Brooks said they are working on the wording for those texts and clarified the message was meant to help you save money.
Brooks said as for this weekend and into next week, outages are possible.
"This weekend, we're going to see some impacts but we're seeing the potential for another storm midweek and that storm may have more statewide effects so we're really having to watch the forecast to see how both of these storms develop," Brooks said.
He said because of possible ice Saturday and strong wind and rain expected Tuesday, be prepared.
"What we're most concerned about is always ice because ice can accumulate and as little as a quarter of an inch of ice on a tree limb can begin to bring that limb down and can create the potential for outages across our system," Brooks said. "We're seeing the potential, especially in Western North Carolina, and through the Triad, and then the northern counties, that we could see some ice accumulation. If it stays below a quarter of an inch shouldn't be any real issues, but if it starts to hit that threshold, you'll begin to see pockets of outages appearing."
Brooks said Duke Energy made many adjustments to avoid rolling blackouts this year. Its forecast models were adjusted, which is helping better predict cold weather.
Duke Energy improved cold weather protections at power plants and adjusted schedules, so more utility workers are available to help during outages.
Brooks believes the company is prepared this year to avoid rolling blackouts, especially after their self-healing technology was improved, which redirects power when there are outages.
In the worst-case scenario, Books said if you do experience an outage, report it.
Also, he said to have a plan in place for what you would do if you lost power and if you do experience a downed power line in your yard, don't go near it. He said to always assume it has power on it and contact Duke Energy so that they can come out and address it.
Lastly, make sure you're always following the manufacturer's instructions for all generators, and don't bring that generator inside.
If you have to go out, Brooks encourages drivers to give room for crews working out in the field.