GOLDSBORO, N.C. — As hurricane season and the peak of summer storm season continue, Duke Energy says its investment in smart, self-healing technology is helping keep the lights on for thousands of customers in Wayne County by restoring power faster and reducing the number of outages.
The utility company announced that its automated self-healing technology helped prevent more than 12,600 customer outages in Wayne County during 2025. Today, more than 75% of Duke Energy customers in Wayne County are served by the technology—more than double the number of customers covered in 2022.
Self-healing technology automatically detects power outages and reroutes electricity around damaged sections of the grid, much like a GPS finds an alternate route around traffic. In many cases, the system can restore service in less than a minute without the need for crews to manually respond.
According to Duke Energy, the technology can reduce the number of customers affected by an outage by as much as 75%, minimizing disruptions during severe weather and other unexpected power interruptions.
Across North Carolina, Duke Energy now provides self-healing technology to nearly 80% of its customers, serving approximately 3 million people. That represents an increase of 2 million customers since 2022.
The company says the technology is just one component of its broader effort to strengthen the electric grid before, during and after storms. Across the Carolinas, Duke Energy has also:
- Replaced or upgraded more than 150,000 utility poles
- Converted approximately 17,000 wooden transmission poles to stronger steel poles
- Trimmed vegetation along 68,000 miles of power lines to reduce storm-related outages
“Preparing for storm season starts long before severe weather arrives, and that’s why we’re investing in a stronger, smarter grid across North Carolina,” said Scott Batson, Duke Energy executive vice president and chief power grid officer. “Self-healing technology provides another tool for responding to outages by automating the detection of problems and rerouting power to restore service faster for customers.”
Duke Energy says it plans to continue expanding self-healing technology as part of ongoing efforts to modernize the electric grid, improve reliability, and meet the state’s growing energy demands while keeping costs as low as possible for customers.
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