Gunfire damages EnergyUnited power substation in Randolph County

EnergyUnited said its customers who are served by the substation did not experience an outage as a result of the quick response.

Posted 10:19 p.m. Jan 17, 2023 — Updated 3:18 a.m. Jan 18, 2023

WRAL Staff

THOMASVILLE, N.C. — EnergyUnited leaders responded to an alarm Tuesday morning to discover its Pleasant Hill Substation was damaged from an apparent gunshot, according to a news release from the company.

The company said its customers who are served by the substation did not experience an outage as a result of the quick response.

“EnergyUnited continually strives to deliver safe, reliable energy to its members,” said EnergyUnited Vice President of Energy Delivery Steve McCachern in a news release. “While we are glad that our members did not experience any service interruptions, we take this matter very seriously and are currently investigating the incident.”

Company leaders called law enforcement upon seeing the damage to the substation.

EnergyUnited spokesperson Maureen Moore said the company could not provide the exact address of the substation due to security reasons.

The Randolph County Sheriff's Office said it is investigating. The FBI and State Bureau of Investigation are also aware of Tuesday's incident.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 336-318-6658 or CrimeStoppers at 336-672-7463.

It comes after the Dec. 3, 2022, attack on two electrical substations in Moore County, which left more than 40,000 homes and businesses in the dark for several days. Authorities have yet to make an arrest for the person or people responsible for the Moore County attacks.