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Residents of the Tampa Bay area experienced an unusual weather event over the weekend, as reports of snow flurries and frozen fountains emerged across the region.
In response to the chilly conditions, Duke Energy issued an email to its customers, urging them to voluntarily reduce their energy consumption. This proactive measure aimed to manage the increased demand for electricity during the cold snap.
Ana Gibbs from Duke Energy confirmed that the area did not face any mandatory power outages. “We did not foresee the need for rolling blackouts or brownouts, so we managed to avoid any power disruptions,” Gibbs explained. “There were no rolling outages, and we didn’t have to take any such actions.”
She further emphasized that the request for customers to cut back on power usage was entirely voluntary, ensuring smooth energy distribution during the unexpected cold spell.
“We did not anticipate that we would have rolling blackouts or rolling brownouts, so we did not have any sort of power interruptions. We did not have any rolling outages. We did not anticipate any and we did not have to implement that,” said Gibbs.
She says the power reduction request was voluntary.
“The reason that’s important is that all of our different utilities throughout the state of Florida are interconnected on our grid,” said Gibbs.
She says cutting back on your power can also help with your bill.
“We are asking our customers to be very conscious that when there is this type of cold weather, and if you keep that thermostat high, it does impact their bill,” said Gibbs.
Some customers were not happy with the request.
“Conserve power? How much am I paying? What am I getting? Especially in this kind of weather. It’s up to them to juice it up for us, to take care of us,” said Duke Customer Jan Siegel.
She says cutting back on power may not work for some people.
“Heat is critical, especially for the elderly and especially for the ill, home-bound people that can’t get out. If they can’t pay their power, what are we going to do?” said Siegel.
Duke says if people have high power bills, they do offer some programs to help.
Duke offers installment plans and flexible payment options. You can call Duke Energy about that.
There are also payment assistance plans and people can go to 211.org to find out more about those.