Duke Energy would rather you not know the extent that they had to go to restore power after Thursday's storms.
But this is just a very small portion of the hundred or so trucks brought into help overwhelmed Duke Energy Crews restore power.
Crews from Florida were brought in early Friday to help repair damaged power lines throughout the Charlotte area.
The 48 hour effort wrapped up just after 8 p.m. Saturday with crews staging at South Charlotte's Calvary Church before they convoyed down I-485 en route to I-77 and eventually I-95 to head back to Florida.
In 1992 then Duke Power decided to contract with a single "High Line" contractor Floyd S. Pike. The result was the bankruptcy of a dozen other High Line operations throughout the Carolinas.
Pike went on the control the majority of high line work in the Southeast. The company went public in 2005 and is now traded on the NYSE.
But the good ole boy relationship with Duke Energy is still strong, which might explain why Duke Energy is firmly opposed to the relocation of power lines in Charlotte from overhead to underground.
The massive costs of Thursday's storm will be passed along to Duke Customers in the form of overtime and natural disaster pricing by outside contractors simply because Pike doesn't have the manpower to deal with even the smallest storms.
Imagine if Hurricane Hugo happened today, could Duke Energy handle the job of rebuilding our electrical grid? Doubtful, shockingly doubtful.
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