North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s office argues Duke Energy is seeking too high a return on equity — nearly 11% — and that a lower rate of 7.4% would save residential customers about $435 each while still allowing the company to attract investment and maintain reliable service.

"It's the terrible combined with the good,' said Shelley Robbins, senior decarbonization manager at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. "They should be two separate bills."

The Duke Energy rate hike hearing that was postponed from last month because of security issues takes place at 7 pm today, June 3, at the Durham County Courthouse. It will be preceded by a rally that starts at 5:30.

The legislature-appointed advocate for utility customers in Florida joined with Florida Rising, an affordability advocacy group, in a filing this week that accuses Duke Energy’s legally required plan for managing data center costs in the Sunshine State of failing to protect other consumers.

A Duke Energy spokesperson said data centers "are not a significant factor" in the utility’s rate hike request in NC, but both Google and Microsoft have petitioned to intervene in the case, citing the importance of available and reliable energy for their data center operations in the state.

The money trail runs from Duke Energy Carolinas through a political nonprofit called Citizens for a Responsible Energy Future, solely funded by Duke, then into a super PAC launched this year by business interests to support Berger against Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, who narrowly won. #ncpol

A bill introduced this week at the NC General Assembly to regulate data centers would also prevent the state Utilities Commission from authorizing any coal plant retirements until new nuclear development in the state passes a certain threshold.

My colleagues at the Energy and Policy Institute did a deep dive into what the proposed merger of NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy would mean for customers in Dominion's service areas in Virginia and the Carolinas.

“You have people focusing on their utility bills as a front-line political issue for the first time in years, and they’re pointing the finger at people they had never really paid attention to before,” said Alex Jacquez, chief of policy and advocacy at progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative.

A new study looks at emissions and cost impacts of modeled data center and cryptocurrency buildout. iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1...

“The bill proposes important first steps toward establishing a regulatory structure for data centers in North Carolina,” said Rep. Pricey Harrison. “I am happy to see policies proposed for water conservation, and limitations on polluted discharges that other states have dealt with.”

Come work with me at the Energy and Policy Institute! We're hiring a data engineer, research manager, and research fellow. More info here: energyandpolicy.org/jobs/

The NC Utilities Commission has ordered a weeklong comment period to hear opinions on the docket that includes the controversial order to defer this year's solar procurement process.

"A mega-monopoly of this size, with the kind of money to buy political influence that NextEra will have, will be nearly impossible to regulate," said David Pomerantz, executive director of the Energy and Policy Institute, a nonprofit energy watchdog organization.

Dominion’s service area includes northeastern North Carolina.

"You've got this two gigawatt increase in load, and then two weeks later the commission says 'actually, let's cancel this large procurement,'" said Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Nick Jimenez, who called the order "baffling."

Jackson Ewing, director of energy and climate policy at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University, lays out the pros and cons of Duke Energy merging its Carolinas utilities.

"If we continue on the trajectory that we’re seeing with the cancellation of resources that have no associated fuel costs, the impact on North Carolina is going to be on our wallets," said Mikaela Curry of Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign.

The plot thickens around the NC Utilities Commission's decision to postpone the Durham public hearing on Duke Energy's proposed rate hikes. The local sheriff's office told WRAL News the postponement was due to "administrative and scheduling requirements that were not followed by the commission."

An illuminating overview of Duke Energy's political giving in North Carolina.

Folks in Durham, North Carolina, are planning a fun rally before the May 12 hearing on Duke Energy's rate hike request.

Duke Energy's budget billing program can help smooth out monthly costs for customers, but it can also leave them with a big balance at the end of the cycle.

While the merger of Duke Energy's two Carolinas utilities will bring efficiencies, it will also reduce what Jackson Ewing of Duke University's Nicholas Institute calls "shadow competition" and comparative benchmarking.

Surveys show a majority of North Carolinians oppose data center developments, yet political observers say a Democratic-sponsored bill to regulate them is unlikely to get a hearing this year in the state's Republican-controlled legislature.

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed a motion asking the North Carolina Utilities Commission to reconsider a recent order directing Duke Energy to pause its 2026 solar procurement process on behalf of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Vote Solar, and Sierra Club.

Duke Energy is among the utilities funding front groups that are fighting grassroots efforts to move to publicly owned electrical systems.

Both the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the Public Service Commission of South Carolina have approved the Duke Energy merger.

Climate justice activists are planning to risk arrest for nonviolent civil disobedience at a protest to be held this morning at the North Carolina Governor's Mansion in Raleigh. #ncpol

Duke Energy isn't the only electric utility looking to raise bills in North Carolina: Dominion Energy, which serves the northeastern part of the state, has filed for a rate hike with the Utilities Commission that could result in an average $17 increase a month for residential customers.

Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris says the company needs higher rates to, among other things, harden infrastructure against increasing severe weather from climate change while he promotes an industry-record $103 billion building plan that leans on climate-damaging gas plants.

The solar pause was enacted solely by NC Utilities Commission Chair William Brawley, rather than the full body, without the requisite notice and comment period. That violates North Carolina law, according to a filing from the Carolinas Clean Energy Business Association.

"The new norm is expensive energy. And as a consumer advocate, that's, I think that's accurate, and it's also depressing." - Director Chris Ayers of the North Carolina Public Staff, which advocates for utility customers in rate cases, speaking last month at a utilities conference in New Mexico.

“I am dressed as fossil fuels from hell,” said Angela James of GreenFaith. “Do we want energy from heaven or energy from hell?”

“15% doesn’t mean much to a company that makes billions,” said Rick Martin, a 69-year-old disabled retired truck driver and mechanic. “But to retirees, it’s life changing. It’s a nightmare.”

"We're just asking them to understand that families are struggling. Families shouldn't have to choose between having the lights on and being able to have food on the table," said Jennifer Roberts, a Duke Energy customer and former Charlotte mayor.

Formerly with the Department of Energy, Shah has an idea for reducing bills for Duke Energy's North Carolina customers: require data centers to co-locate battery storage at the 7,200 MWs of solar already deployed around the state as a condition of grid interconnection.

“To actually defer the proposed procurement of a bunch of generation to help meet that demand is baffling,” said Nick Jimenez, a senior attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center. “When you combine this [decision] with the load growth Duke Energy is forecasting … it’s startling.”

“We’re giving Duke Energy money to build something and then we’re paying Duke Energy higher utility rates,“ said Rania Masri, co-director of the NC Environmental Justice Network. It is absolutely absurd.“

Electricity bills are rising, customers are struggling, but guess who is doing just fine?

Last year Duke Energy paid a combined $21.9 million to its two CEOs during a leadership transition, with former CEO Lynn Good receiving $8.3 million and current CEO Harry Sideris receiving $13.7 million. That represents an increase of about $300,000 over 2024's payout of $21.3 million to Good.

The Energy and Policy Institute released a report analyzing compensation of utility CEO’s across the country. From 2017-2025, reported CEO pay has reached over $5 billion. Meanwhile, customers are told to turn down the thermostat to afford their bills. bit.ly/42iIJHR

A North Carolina company that acted as an "energy efficiency aggregator" in wholesale electricity markets has been penalized by federal regulators for fraud. The company denies the accusations and says it will take the feds to court.

“This federal data is the most sobering portrait we have of the country’s energy affordability challenges,” said Jean Su of the Center for Biological Diversity, which pushed for the national survey after inconsistent state laws limited monitoring of disconnections during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Duke Energy NC customers who were hit with high bills during this past winter's unusually cold weather could be paying again, this time for fuel the utility burned and outside power it purchased. The company wants $800 million, which is separate from the 18% rate hike it's currently seeking.

Duke Energy reported $5 billion in profits last year and paid no federal income taxes.

"The Utilities Commission should step in to secure an affordable energy future for North Carolinians. We must do everything we can to make life more affordable for families, not more expensive," Stein said.

Federal energy regulators voted yesterday to keep in place accounting rules that allow monopoly utilities to charge customers for trade association activities, including political advocacy. Congress can fix this.

Noting that Duke Energy CEO Harry Sideris made $13,652,620 for nine months of work in 2025, customer Melanie Joseph said, “[It makes me] sick to my stomach because that would be enough for me to buy a house and not have a mortgage to pay, and that's all I'm trying to do."

NC WARN examines Duke Energy's plan to build up to 10 large Westinghouse AP1000 reactors in the Carolinas. That's the same design that Duke failed to complete in all six previous attempts and that led to $17 billion in cost overruns at Georgia's Plant Vogtle. www.ncwarn.org/wp-content/u...

FERC should revisit its transmission pricing policy to require utilities to assign the full costs of transmission service to data centers, writes Ari Peskoe of Harvard Law School’s Electricity Law Initiative.