RALEIGH, N.C. (Sept. 15, 2009) -- Twenty years ago, Hurricane Hugo, a category-4 storm at landfall, tore its way across the Carolinas, leaving a path of destruction and redefining how Progress Energy restores service in the wake of a natural disaster.

Today, the lessons learned from Hurricane Hugo and from numerous storms since have resulted in faster, safer restoration and more accurate, timely information for the company's 3.1 million customers in three states.

Hugo came ashore near Charleston, S.C., Sept. 21, 1989, and left nearly every South Carolina customer served by Carolina Power and Light, as the utility was then called, without power. Some would remain in the dark for more than a week.

The lessons learned from Hurricane Hugo led to major changes in the way Progress Energy plans for major storms and restores service. Today, Progress Energy is recognized as an industry leader in storm response.

"The reason we are so effective today is that we were disciplined enough after every storm to take the lessons learned and keep improving," said Bobby Simpson, who served as the utility's storm response coordinator during the storm.

Progress Energy has developed a comprehensive storm response plan that drives restoration efforts with clear procedures, proven techniques and advanced resource planning tools to maximize the effectiveness of restoration efforts. Resources once coordinated from regional offices are now managed from a centralized storm center that can quickly mobilize crews and equipment in advance of the storm.

Progress Energy also maintains structured, ongoing communications with utilities across the region to secure additional resources, when needed. Collaboration among electric utilities has helped to increase access to crews and equipment and shorten outage durations. Progress Energy customers have seen the benefits of these resource agreements after major hurricanes in the Carolinas and Florida -- Bertha, Fran, Floyd, Charley, Frances -- as well as ice storms. Likewise, Progress Energy crews have assisted other utilities after major storms, including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 and Hurricane Ike last year.

Other improvements in storm response made since Hurricane Hugo include:

• Staging and logistics -- Advanced staging and logistics strategically support crews in the field with vehicles, technology, food, housing and communications. By handling basic logistical needs in advance, tree and line crews are able to work safer, faster and more efficiently when major storms affect Progress Energy service areas. Having detailed plans in place has reduced restoration times significantly.
• Field communications -- Major improvements include centralized direction of crews in the field, as well as satellite communication and real-time outage information. This enables the company to provide better information to customers on damage assessment and restoration progress.
• Resource management -- Computer-based resource modeling provides a detailed picture of anticipated electric system damage based on forecast conditions. This enables Progress Energy to deploy crews to expected hard-hit areas before the storm. Additional resources can also be quickly mobilized, as needed, from among Progress Energy's 11,000 employees and contract crews.
• Customer communications -- An automated outage reporting system, capable of handling 120,000 calls per hour, processes customer outage calls. The tool can notify customers when power has been restored to their home or business. An online outage map is also available to provide outage numbers and locations for the entire service area. During Hugo, no centralized outage reporting tool existed and information was compiled manually over the phone from dozens of district offices across the Carolinas.

Progress Energy's continual improvement and commitment to excellence in storm response has earned the utility the Emergency Response Award from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) five times in the program's 11-year history. Progress Energy also won the EEI Emergency Assistance Award for its role in aiding utilities and citizens in Texas and Ohio following Hurricane Ike in 2008, and in the Gulf Coast region after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 500 energy company with more than 22,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $9 billion in annual revenues. Progress Energy includes two major electric utilities that serve approximately 3.1 million customers in the Carolinas and Florida. The company has earned the Edison Electric Institute's Edison Award, the industry's highest honor, in recognition of its operational excellence, and was the first utility to receive the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates Founder's Award for customer service. The company is pursuing a balanced strategy for a secure energy future, which includes aggressive energy-efficiency programs, investments in renewable energy technologies and a state-of-the-art electricity system. Progress Energy celebrated a century of service in 2008. Visit the company's Web site at www.progress-energy.com.

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