Duke Energy wants to raise rates on their customers and we need to tell them NO! Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas are planning to raise rates by nearly 18% over the next three years for residential customers.

Customers should not be paying more for Duke to continue burning dirty fossil fuels. The Inflation Reduction Act offers incentives for transmission upgrades and renewable energy deployment. Duke Energy will file its next carbon plan on Sept. 1, 2023. We need to make sure this filing properly takes advantage of federal investments that will not require increasing monthly energy bills for residents across the state

The North Carolina Utilities Commission is hosting a series of public hearings on these proposed hikes. You can also submit a written comment and include the docket number E-2 SUB 1300. You can  use the talking points at the bottom of this page to help write your comment. Not sure what to tell the utilities commission? We're glad to help. Email Maddy Koch at maddy@appvoices.org. You can also use the talking points at the bottom of this page to help write your comment.

Submit your comment!

* Monday, March 6 at 7 p.m. – Haywood County Courthouse, 285 N. Main St., Waynesville

* Monday, March 13 at 7 p.m. – Person County Courthouse, 105 S. Main St., Roxboro

* Tuesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. – Dobbs Building, 430 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh

* Monday, March 20 at 7 p.m. – Greene County Courthouse, 301 N. Greene St., Snow Hill

* Tuesday, March 21 at 7 p.m. – Robeson County Courthouse, 500 N. Elm St., Lumberton

Talking Points for Duke Energy Progress 2023

• If the North Carolina Utilities Commission approves Duke Energy Progress’ rate increase, the average electric bill will go up $14.72 per month starting this fall and will continue to rise over the next three years. This is on top of the recent $10.58/month average increase that occurred over the summer from rising gas prices — driving record profits for the fossil fuel industry.

• Rate increases have an adverse impact on working families. If Duke Energy gets its way, a person making minimum wage in North Carolina would have to work an additional 51 hours a year to pay their electric bills by 2026.

• By 2026, the average annual residential electric bill would be $306.06 higher than it is today.

Each year’s average rate increase

• Starting Oct. 1, 2023: a monthly increase of $14.72 (average bills will increase from $126.43 to $141.15).

• Starting Oct. 1, 2024, a monthly increase of $5.62 (average bills will increase from $141.15 to $146.77).

• Starting Oct. 1, 2025, a monthly increase of $5.21 ( average bills will increase from $146.77 to $151.98).

• Duke Energy says it is planning to spend most of the money from rate increases on new distribution and transmission grid upgrades. However, they expect a net revenue of $820 million, which represents an increase in profits. This is money from our pockets that will go to their shareholders.

• Making our energy grid more reliable is important, but the December 2022 blackouts were caused by failures at the same kind of fossil fuel plants that Duke is seeking to build as part of its carbon plan. We need more renewable energy paired with battery storage that is much more reliable and cost-effective in the long run.

• Duke’s proposed increase does not align with the goals or timeline of the N.C. Carbon Plan, which has to be re-evaluated every two years. The NCUC should reject Duke’s proposed three-year rate plan so that customers don’t end up paying for unnecessary projects that are not aligned with the state's carbon reduction goals.

• Duke now has the ability to use new “performance-based ratemaking” mechanisms that incentivize clean energy investments in a way that benefits both the utility company and the public. Duke underutilized this opportunity in its application to raise rates. The NCUC should require that Duke’s profits are tied to achieving public policy goals such as low-income energy affordability, decarbonization and investments in energy efficiency and distributed renewable energy resources.

• Duke Energy Progress customers already spend on average 19% more on their electric bills than Duke Energy Carolinas customers. This needs to be fixed before Progress customers are expected to pay anything more.