Snake causes power outage affecting 10K Duke Energy customers in North Carolina

DURHAM, N.C. (WBTV) — About 10,000 people were without power this week after a snake triggered a widespread outage in central North Carolina.

A Duke Energy spokesperson said the outage began around 11 p.m. on Monday when a black snake came in contact with equipment in a Durham substation. Power was not restored until about 1:30 a.m.

The spokesperson said the substation had protective fencing to keep animals out, and that Duke was investigating how the snake got into the substation.

“We have been making grid improvements across our system to increase physical and cyber protections around essential equipment,” the spokesperson said in an email. “These improvements include physical protections to keep squirrels, snakes and other animals out of substations and other equipment, and to keep power reliable for the communities we serve.”

In the wake of the outage, the spokesperson said squirrels and snakes are common causes of utility outages nationwide.

According to The Nature Conservancy, an estimated 13 million Americans lose power each year due to animal-caused outages.

Duke Energy customer can keep track of outages with the company’s real-time outage tracker here.

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