As heatwaves grip North Carolina, power companies are prepared for the strain on the system.

Substations distribute electricity throughout neighborhoods, and Duke Energy crews work hard to prevent outages through maintenance and monitoring.

High temperatures above 90 degrees are expected all week.

“Try to stay hydrated and out of the sun as much as possible,” Lori Hatlen, Lives in Raleigh, said.

Raleigh residents Lori and Roger Hatlen are taking precautions, keeping their thermostat set at a cool 74 degrees.

“We usually have ours set on 74 -I’m usually pretty cool,” Lori Hatlen, Lives in Raleigh, said.

This increased air conditioner use can stress power grids, but Duke Energy assures residents they have measures.

“We’re not anticipating any problems meeting customer demand,” Jeff Brooks of Duke Energy said.

At new energy control centers, they utilize “demand response technology” and “self-healing” technology to automatically reroute power in case of outages.

“This the time of year we tend to use our demand response technology more. so ac control things like that could happen during this time period. been using already,” Jeff Brooks, Duke Energy said.

The Hatlens, living in a new energy-efficient home, hope their bills won’t spike too much during this hot week.

“We haven’t had any outrageous bills it’s a new build and hopefully it’ll be reasonably efficient,” Roger Hatlen said.

As Name, Image, and Likeness continues to be a larger staple of collegiate athletics, there have been collectives created in coordinance with the schools to deal with funding and NIL aspects.

In the future, it’s unknown how big of a role these groups will play as some oversight could finally be determined about how NIL will operate going forward, but as it stands right now, collectives play a massive part for all programs across the country.

North Carolina is no different.

As a national brand on the basketball court and a competitor in the ACC during football season, their collective called Heels4Life has been busy working on NIL deals for their athletes or prospective student-athletes.

In a roundup of deals that took place this past week, Jeremey Crabtree of On3 reported incoming North Carolina freshman Peter Pesansky has signed an NIL deal with NC Carpet Binding in an agreement that was orchestrated by the Heels4Life collective.

According to the report, the defensive lineman will promote the products on his social media accounts and on video and podcast appearances.

NC Carpet Binding is the world’s largest manufacturer of carpet binding equipment.

Pesansky is coming in rated as a three-star by On3’s Industry Ranking, listed as the 71st-best player at his position. He committed to North Carolina on April 24 in a battle that saw them beat out Wake Forest and Duke among others.

The monetary figure of this deal was not revealed, but it does offer something interesting when discussing recruiting.

Pesansky is an incoming freshman and has not played a down for the Tar Heels in his career, yet the collective negotiated an NIL deal for him. Whether that was a factor in his decision making to attend North Carolina is not known, but these types of deals have become more and more of a norm across the country.

With NIL continuing to expand, there is going to be more opportunities for every player to make money, not just the coveted recruits and high-profile athletes.