Electric Distribution served growth with higher satisfaction, lower costs. Duke Power's Electric Distribution has added approximately 270,000 new retail customers since 1994. In 1998, the group improved its service commitment rate to 98 percent. In the "new construction" category, the customer satisfaction rating increased 18 percent in 1998, while direct capital cost per new customer was reduced by 2.5 percent.

Weather, healthy economy helped drive record power demand in Carolinas. Duke Power customers set three records in power demand in 1998, the latest on July 21, when demand reached 15,812 MW.

Nuclear stations earned top ratings, set several records. McGuire Nuclear Station and Catawba Nuclear Station earned the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations' highest rating, covering systems and equipment, knowledge and performance of personnel, and management effectiveness. It was McGuire's second consecutive highest rating. Catawba's two units set a record dual-unit run of 158 days. McGuire Unit 1 completed its refueling outage in company-record time of 33 days, 19 hours and four minutes. McGuire generated a station record 18,744,906 net MWh in 1998. The McGuire team achieved a 97.26 percent capacity factor for the year, establishing a new "best" for all Duke Power nuclear plants.

Duke Power customers will benefit from power purchase agreement signed with Dynegy Power Corp. Duke Power's agreement with Dynegy is for the purchase of 600 MW of future capacity and energy generated by a power plant that Dynegy is constructing in North Carolina. The contract term begins July 1, 2000, and runs through 2003 with an option to extend it through 2008.