UPTOWN — Duke Energy sent a mass email Tuesday asking customers to consider a new approach to the winter storm: simply stopping the consumption of the product they pay for.
The email, titled “Winter Savings Tips,” arrived just as temperatures plunged, politely suggesting that while Duke Energy remains committed to sending monthly bills, the actual delivery of electricity during freezing weather is “logistically challenging.”
“When customers turn on their heat pumps, we are forced to purchase electricity on the spot market at a markup exceeding 4,000 percent,” the company explained. “That cost comes directly out of our Q1 margins. We are asking customers to reflect on what truly matters: personal warmth, or shareholder value.”
The utility acknowledged that residential customers are currently competing for limited grid capacity with what it described as “mission-critical infrastructure,” including the massive data centers in Catawba County.
“We have to prioritize,” the email noted. “On one hand, there is a family in Dilworth attempting to bake a lasagna. On the other, a server farm requires 800 megawatts to train an artificial intelligence model. From an economic standpoint, the chatbot must come first.”
To help offset demand, Duke Energy introduced a voluntary “Friction Protocol,” encouraging customers to generate heat manually by rubbing their hands together.
“If every resident shivers with intention, we can meaningfully reduce strain on the Apple Data Center’s cooling systems,” the email concluded. “It’s a partnership: We provide the invoices. You provide the body heat. Together, we protect long-term value.”
