{"id":2675,"date":"2026-07-03T11:04:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T11:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2675"},"modified":"2026-07-03T11:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T11:04:34","slug":"nc-braces-for-sweltering-fourth-of-july-heat-will-the-power-grid-hold-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charlotterelocationguide.com\/?p=2675","title":{"rendered":"NC braces for sweltering Fourth of July heat. Will the power grid hold up?"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Air conditioners will be on full blast this blistering Fourth of July weekend, placing strain on North Carolina\u2019s power grid as energy companies nationwide prepare for record demand.<\/p>\n

Read more Man pulls sword and attacks during argument over dirty floors, NC sheriff says<\/a><\/p>\n

Temperatures in the Triangle are forecast to soar<\/a> into the triple digits this weekend, with Raleigh reaching 107 degrees on Saturday with the region also under a heat advisory Friday.<\/p>\n

But as many locals enjoy America\u2019s 250th birthday from the comfort of their own air conditioner, energy companies across the country<\/a> and in the Triangle are working to keep up with the high demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially as it gets hotter outside, people tend to crank up the thermostat,\u201d said Duke Energy spokesperson Logan Stewart. \u201cThe AC, or the heat in the wintertime, accounts for more or less 50% of your energy bill everywhere. As people do that it does tend to drive up demand on the grid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Likely not. According to Stewart, Duke Energy is well equipped for the extreme heat, familiar with the blazing heat of the Southeast as a major power provider for the Carolinas.<\/p>\n

The company has a team of meteorologists tasked with assessing weather events and making sure customers won\u2019t have their service interrupted, Stewart said. Those energy forecasts rely on data from previous years and the resources the company currently has available, like new power plants or solar and battery systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe anticipate this kind of stuff, and we have a detailed plan in place to manage the grid in extreme conditions, whether it\u2019s this heat or whether it\u2019s a storm,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

And within Duke Energy\u2019s preparations, blackouts \u2014 which the company defines more as \u201can interruption in service\u201d \u2014 are seen as the ultimate last resort, only used if they\u2019d \u201cexhausted every single other tool in the toolbox<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can purchase power, we can implement these programs, and we would do all of those things before you know we would ever do anything with any kind of outages,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

In addition to calling on its power plants to provide electricity during peak demand, Duke Energy also offers incentives to customers who help them \u201ccurtail the load\u201d by pulling back their energy consumption. Through the company\u2019s EnergyWise Home program<\/a>, customers are given monthly bill credits for reducing their usage during peak demands like a heatwave.<\/p>\n

Those customers pre-cool their home before shutting off their cooling systems to help save energy during periods of high demand. And Duke Energy requires all industrial customers, including some data centers, to opt into the program and conserve their high energy intake during the peaks.<\/p>\n

But Duke can also buy power from systems in other states in the event of a shortage \u2014 though it could be difficult to find any willing sellers as states across the country prepare their own systems for the extreme heat, said Jordan Kern, an associate professor at N.C. State University specializing in energy systems.<\/p>\n

Read more Months after viral video backlash, McDonald\u2019s CEO joins Duke Board of Trustees<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOur neighboring systems in South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, all the way up through the mid-Atlantic are also going to be experiencing really exceptional heat, and so everybody\u2019s going to be kind of tight, so I don\u2019t think they may be doing that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, there\u2019s always some risk during extreme weather like Raleigh\u2019s heatwave, Kern said.<\/p>\n

In December 2022, Duke Energy enacted rolling blackouts<\/a> for the first time in North Carolina\u2019s history in an attempt to offset grid demand due to freezing temperatures during Winter Storm Elliott. The blackouts paused power for about 500,000 customers, with some remaining in the dark for hours.<\/p>\n

Kern said a blackout is an inconvenience for everyone \u2014 only used if all else fails.<\/p>\n

\u201cRolling blackout is the last choice,\u201d Kern said. \u201cNobody wants it \u2014 Duke doesn\u2019t want to do that, customers don\u2019t want to do it. Everybody loses. So they would only be doing that if they absolutely had to.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are no active requirements to limit power intake, but as thermostat use makes up about 50% of energy bills, consuming less energy this weekend could save you money while also taking pressure off the power grid.<\/p>\n

To limit use, households should set their thermostat a few degrees higher than typically comfortable, Stewart said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe closer you can get the temperature inside your home to the temperature outside your home, the lower your energy use, and the less your bill is going to be,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

Stewart also urged customers to turn on ceiling fans in a counterclockwise direction \u2014 so the heat travels downward \u2014 clean out air vents to help air circulate and practice general energy efficiency by limiting laundry machine and dishwasher use.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 7:00 AM<\/span> with the headline “NC braces for sweltering Fourth of July heat. Will the power grid hold up?.” <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Read more As July 4 weekend begins, NC forecasters warn of extreme heat, poor air quality<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

North Carolina heads into a blistering Fourth of July weekend with Raleigh hitting 107\u00b0F. Duke Energy says it\u2019s prepared but urges conservation to reduce demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nNC braces for sweltering Fourth of July heat. 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