Duke Energy Addresses the Moore County Grid Attack Transcript

Hey Amber, that was a big question, a big concern for a lot of people. Did this attack prove vulnerable to other substations and if there were other risks involved. But Duke energy leaders that at no point during this attack were other substations or the broader system impacted at all, but certainly impacting about 45,000 customers here in Moore County.

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Two Duke Energy power substations were shot up in Moore County and now we’re learning when the company knew there was a problem and how quickly their teams got to work.

The Duke Energy Progress Energy Control Center began getting alarms that indicated to us that there were abnormal conditions at the west end and the Carthage substations in Moore County. These indications informed us that there was equipment in the substation that was no longer operable.

Top executives would Duke Energy described to the North Carolina Utilities Commission, the steps their teams made to get customers back on the grid.

Teams from Duke Energy arrived at the sites. It was determined that the damaged equipment could not in its current state be used to provide service to the customers. And so we developed tactical plans on how to get those customers in Moore County backed service.

They also share measures Duke plans to take to prevent similar attacks.

We take learnings as threats change throughout the year. We have to change our strategy in order to handle any of those incoming or emergent threats. I think this would be no different. We would take information into that and reassess how we’re doing, whether it’s our business continuity planning or our exercises. So we would take any of those learnings and modify our strategy going forward.

The executives were met with questions about motive and the culprit having insight on how electrical systems worked. These were questions they couldn’t answer, citing the FBI’s investigation into the case. Also, the cost this attack could have on the customer wasn’t answered either.

We’re still trying to assess all the costs. We’ve moved pretty rapidly to get the customers restored, and I had some time later in the week to discuss how much exactly it costs.

So no exact cost right now, but certainly something a lot of people want to know about because this will impact all rate payers and that’s people outside of Moore County. In Moore County tonight. I’m Jamiese Price, ABC11, Eyewitness News.