Wake Forest Power

Wake Forest Power has scheduled a brief power outage early Thursday morning, July 13, that will affect approximately 200 customers in the following neighborhoods: Heath Ridge Village, Franklin Street Townes, and Deacons Ridge.

The outage is scheduled from 5:30-6:30 a.m. Electricity will be turned off, so crews can safely perform maintenance on a powerline.

Affected streets will include South Franklin Street, Sugar Maple Avenue, Silver Linden Lane, South White Street, Old Ash Court, Yellow Poplar Avenue, Laurel View Avenue, Laurel Gate Drive, Franklin Park Avenue, Deacon Ridge Street, East Holding Avenue, South Allen Road, Montville Court, Rockville Road, Watch Hill Lane, Shiretown Lane, Middle Bridge Road, and Torry Hill Court.

Wake Forest Power wishes to thank the affected customers in advance for their patience and understanding during Thursday’s planned outage. For more information, contact Electric Utility Director Chris Terrell at 919-435-9572 or cterrell@wakeforestnc.gov.

Wake Forest Power crews are responding to power outages affecting the following businesses at Gateway Commons: Lowe’s Gas Station, Kiddie Academy of Wake Forest, Code Ninjas, and Complete Pet Care Animal Hospital.

The outages are due to a ruptured power line caused by a contractor working in the area.

Power for Lowe’s and Kiddie Academy is expected to be restored by 4 p.m., while power for Code Ninjas and Complete Pet Care is expected to be restored by 8 p.m.

Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.

Wake County is one of several counties in central NC under a Level 3, or enhanced, risk for severe thunderstorms later today and tonight. According to the National Weather Service, the storms could bring damaging wind gusts up to 80 mph, large hail, and lightning.

Central NC is also under a Level 2 slight risk for excessive rainfall which could bring flooding especially in low-lying and poor drainage areas. Monday evening is expected to be the period that is most impactful for much of the area with the storms lasting through midnight.

Be a Good Neighbor

In anticipation of tonight’s weather event, residents are encouraged to consider the following:

• Tie down or bring indoors any objects that might be blown around by strong winds (outdoor furniture, decorations, garbage cans, display racks, signs and any other loose objects that are normally left outside).

• Secure all items that cannot be brought inside, including rollout trash and recycling carts.

• Help prevent flooding by clearing debris from storm drains along your streets.

Reporting Downed Trees

If you encounter fallen trees on roads, sidewalks, or other public areas, contact the Town rather than trying to handle them on your own. In addition to being heavy and difficult to manage, trees and limbs often come into contact with dangerous, live electrical wires which can cause serious injury or death. To report downed trees, visit www.wakeforestnc.gov/report-problem or call 919-554-6150.

Also, please do not call 911 unless there is an emergency posing an immediate threat to life, health, or property.

Reporting Power Outages

To report power outages:

• Wake Forest Power customers call 919-761-7899;

• Wake Electric customers call 919-863-6499 or 800-743-3155;

• Duke Energy Progress customers call 800-419-6356.

Street Flooding Hazards

The following Wake Forest-area streets are prone to flooding and should be approached cautiously during significant rainfall events:

• Durham Road/NC-98, Richland Creek

• East Juniper Avenue near North Allen Road

• East Juniper Avenue near North White Street

• Forestville Road, Toms Creek

• Forestville Road, Sanford Creek

• Harris Road, Richland Creek

• Heritage Heights Lane, 1300 Block

• Jenkins Road, Horse Creek

• Ligon Mill Road, Smith Creek

• Ligon Mill Road, Toms Creek

• North Main Street, Walnut Avenue to Cedar Avenue

• North White Street, Juniper Street to Flaherty Avenue

• Oak Grove Church Road, Dunn Creek

• Purnell Road at Jackson Road, Horse Creek

• Purnell Road, Mud Branch

• Rogers Road, Sanford Creek

• Rogers Road, Smith Creek

• West Oak Avenue, Richland Creek

• Wait Avenue, Dunn Creek

• Wall Road, Wallridge Drive to Harris Road

• Watkins Farm Road at Young Street

Stay Informed

Town facilities will operate on a normal schedule unless announced otherwise. To stay informed residents can:

• Visit the Severe Weather Updates page on the Town website at http://bit.ly/WFSevereWeatherUpdates.

• Visit the Town Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TownofWakeForest/

• Follow the Town’s Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/WakeForest_NC.

• Download the Town app at http://bit.ly/TOWFApp.

• Sign up for Town alerts and email notifications at https://bit.ly/WFEnotifier

• Sign up to receive text/phone call notifications via Blackboard Connect at http://bit.ly/WFPhoneNotificationSystem.

A few stores in the downtown area are still without power. Crews are working to get power back on as quickly as possible.

Approximately 100 Wake Forest Power customers in the downtown area are without power.

Affected streets include South White Street, South Brooks Street, Elm Avenue, Allen Road, Jones Avenue, E Roosevelt Avenue, South Franklin Street, Taylor Street, and Owen Avenue.

The cause of the outage is not known but is not believed to be related to the intermittent outages that affected approximately 1,000 customers over the weekend.

Crews are responding and expect to have power restored by 10 a.m.

Wake Forest Power officials believe they have determined the cause of the intermittent outages that have affected approximately 1,000 customers over the past two days.

Crews located and replaced a faulty switch which is believed to be the cause of these outages. On a positive note, no outages have been reported since the installment of the new switch.

Crews will continue to monitor the power lines looking for problem areas, and engineers will be onsite tomorrow to run further tests.

Contrary to several reports, our automated outage reporting system is working properly, and outage information has been effectively routed to on-call staff.

In addition, the outages were not “surges,” so in most cases the impact on household appliances should be minimal.

We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience and frustration our customers have experienced and will provide additional updates tomorrow.

***UPDATE - Power has been restored. The cause was a blown transformer.

Approximately 600 Wake Forest Power customers are without power.

Affected streets and areas include South Franklin Street, South White Street, Havisham Court, Evesham Court, Old Magnolia Lane, Sugar Maple Avenue, Rockville Road, East Holding Avenue, Yellow Poplar Avenue, Middle Bridge Road, Deacon Ridge, Shiretown Lane, and Watch Hill Lane.

The outage was caused by a blown transformer.

Crews are responding and expect to have power restored by 11:30 a.m.

Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.

Wake Forest Power (WFP) is inviting its customers to share their thoughts and opinions on WFP programs and services by completing a brief survey. Available at https://bit.ly/WakeForestSurvey, the questionnaire is available through Friday, April 21, and takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Conducted by the Maru Group, a professional research firm, the survey is designed to determine customer satisfaction regarding their electric utility service. All responses are anonymous, and customer feedback will be used to help WFP identify opportunities to improve its programs and services.

For more information, email Customer Service & Outreach Manager Andrew Brown, Jr. at abrown@wakeforestnc.gov.

A division of the Town of Wake Forest, Wake Forest Power is a public power utility that strives to provide uninterrupted electric service to nearly 7,000 residential and commercial customers.

***UPDATE - Power has been restored. The cause was an unfortunate squirrel.

Approximately 1,200 Wake Forest Power customers are without power. Affected streets and areas include Downtown Wake Forest, Dogwood, Tyler Run, Magnolia Forest, Woodland Drive, Richland, Durham Road, Oakwood, WF Bus Park, Hope Street, Gateway Commons, Toran Drive, Pineview Drive, South White Street, South Franklin Street, East Jones, Pine Avenue, Highgate, West Oak Avenue, North College, and North Taylor.

The cause of the outage is not known, but crews are responding.

Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.

For the first time in two years and only the fourth time since 2008, Wake Forest Power (WFP) is raising electric rates. During Tuesday’s monthly meeting, the Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted unanimously to raise residential rates 9.5 percent in both April and September, and small and large commercial service rates 8 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, in April.

The impact of soaring equipment and materials costs, compounded by severe supply chain issues and a string of mild winters, led commissioners to concede that the rate hike, though unpleasant, was necessary.

Three years ago, primary cable cost $7.24/foot compared to the current cost of $19.42/foot. Over the same period, 167 KVA transformers which were $3,764 with a 12-week wait for delivery now cost more than six times as much at $25,567 with more than 10 times the wait for delivery at 140 weeks.

Armed with this information during their January retreat, commissioners also learned that without a rate hike, WFP could face a deficit of as much as $12 million within three to four years.

“We haven’t raised our rates in a long time,” said Commissioner Chad Sary during Tuesday’s meeting. “This (rate increase) is to get us whole. This money will be used to support the people (WFP customers) who are receiving the service. I don’t know that we have any other choice.”

“We have to balance the check book,” said Commissioner Jim Dyer.

A division of the Town of Wake Forest, Wake Forest Power operates as an enterprise system. As a result, no taxpayer dollars are used to subsidize the not-for-profit utility. Instead, electric rates are set to cover operating expenses and costs associated with providing reliable electric service.

On the residential side, the rate adjustments mean that a customer using an average of 935 kWh per month who is now paying $126.87 a month ($1,522.42/year) will pay approximately $10 more per month in April ($136.55/month and $1,638.55/year) and another $10 more per month in September ($147.14/month and $1,765.71/year).

These increases come just over two years after commissioners delayed a suggested rate hike due to the impact of COVID-19. In December 2020, Booth and Associates presented to the BOC the results of a Cost of Service & Rate Study which recommended a 4 percent rate increase. The BOC agreed to discuss the rate adjustment in April 2021, at which time it agreed to delay implementing the increase until September 2021.

Booth and Associates updated the Cost of Service & Rate Study in February 2023 to account for increases in providing electric service. For more information, contact Chief Financial Officer Aileen Staples at 919-435-9461 or astaples@wakeforestnc.gov.

Wake Forest Power (WFP) is inviting its customers to share their thoughts and opinions on WFP programs and services by completing a brief survey. Available at https://bit.ly/WakeForestSurvey, the questionnaire takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Conducted by the Maru Group, a professional research firm, the survey is designed to determine customer satisfaction regarding their electric utility service. All responses are anonymous, and customer feedback will be used to help WFP identify opportunities to improve its programs and services.

For more information, email Customer Service & Outreach Manager Andrew Brown, Jr. at abrown@wakeforestnc.gov.

A division of the Town of Wake Forest, Wake Forest Power is a public power utility that strives to provide uninterrupted electric service to nearly 7,000 residential and commercial customers.

WFP crews operate and maintain more than 40 miles of overhead primary lines and 110 miles of underground primary lines. They regularly refurbish or rebuild electric lines that show signs of wear and upgrade facilities where electric load has grown. Thanks to these efforts, WFP customers enjoy dependable electric service 99.9% of the time.