Charlotte local restaurants say Duke Energy outages are debilitating
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300 East, Thai Taste and Leluia Hall. Photos: Alexandria Sands/Axios
Several local restaurants in the Dilworth area say at least four Duke Energy outages this year have cost them thousands, including one as recent as this weekend.
Why it matters: The small businesses along the East Boulevard corridor tell Axios repeated, hours-long blackouts have forced them to toss food, cancel hundreds of reservations and send home employees who depend on tips.
- Jeff Tonidandel, co-owner of Leluia Hall, says it will take weeks to make up for the latest Saturday outage.
Case in point: Thai Taste has endured more outages lately than its owners can recall in the family-run restaurant's 40 years.
- General manager Roger Kongkham says Thai Taste depends on Saturday nights for at least $4,000 of its weekly sales.
- "Losing one evening of business — that could make or break a business," Kongkham tells Axios, "like, whether or not we're going to be able to pay rent that month."
- Kongkham says there's been minimal communication from Duke: "We don't really know what the reasoning is a lot of the time. We would have to search the local news and see if someone hit a telephone pole or something."
Driving the news: Three of the area's outages this year were caused by vegetation and storm damage, Duke Energy told Axios.
- One planned outage was for an equipment upgrade, and another is scheduled just down the block for Sept. 3.
Context: The outages come as Duke Energy — a state-regulated monopoly — is seeking the N.C. Utilities Commission's blessing to raise residential electric bills by 9.5% over two years.
- "Duke Energy is the only provider of electricity that we can get, so there's not really any other way about it," Kongkham says.
- 300 East put a QR code on its door when it had to close recently for an outage, directing customers to share input with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Managing partner Mike Poplin told WCNC that Duke should offer to cover lost wages or the cost of a generator for the restaurant.
The other side: Duke told Axios it is upgrading poles, wires and other equipment and installing technology that will automatically reroute power during outages.
- It acknowledges there are "small pockets" of Dilworth that need improvements, as energy demand has increased in one of Charlotte's fastest-growing areas.
- "We know any outage is inconvenient, and our crews work as safely and quickly as possible to restore outages when they occur," Duke Energy said.
The bottom line: The fix? Another blackout.