Duke Energy rate hike hearings resume in NC. How much could your power bill increase?

Duke Energy Progress’ rate case returned to the North Carolina Utilities Commission on Tuesday, with expert testimony resuming as advocates and elected officials gathered outside the hearing to push for further reductions to the proposed rate increase.

2026-08-11

Customers would still see their bills rise under a proposed settlement now before regulators. A typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month would pay about $9.62 more per month beginning Jan. 1, 2027, followed by another $5.89 per month in 2028.

That is significantly less than Duke initially sought. Duke Energy Progress originally proposed a two-year plan representing a cumulative 15.1% increase in annual retail revenues, including changes to riders.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Duke Energy North Carolina President Kendal Bowman acknowledged that affordability concerns played a role in reducing the company’s request. She characterized the proposed settlement as a compromise balancing affordability with Duke’s ability to invest in its system.

Outside the hearing, Climate Power and the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters held a news conference with state Rep. Maria Cervania and other advocates who said the reduction is evidence that customers speaking out can influence the process, but say the proposed increase remains too high.

Duke Energy says it has responded to those affordability concerns by cutting its original request by more than half. The company says the proposed settlement balances keeping bills affordable with investments needed to maintain a reliable grid and serve growing electricity demand.

“We listened to stakeholders and responded to the everyday cost pressures facing our customers,” Duke Energy North Carolina President Kendal Bowman said.

Customers say bills are already straining budgets

The debate comes during another stretch of temperatures in the 90s across central North Carolina, when many customers are relying heavily on air conditioning.

Raleigh resident Brandi McNeill told WRAL her latest monthly electric bill topped $400, compared with roughly $250 to $270 around the same time last year.

“That’s groceries for the week. That’s gas for the week,” McNeill said.

She said rising electricity costs compete with other expenses for her family, including back-to-school costs and expenses for her children in college.

McNeill was among customers who attended public hearings earlier in the rate case. The Utilities Commission held hearings across Duke Energy Progress’ territory this spring, including in Raleigh, Lumberton, Snow Hill, Roxboro and Waynesville.

“You can complain about something, but what is the action you’re going to take?” McNeill said. “So for me in this last year, it’s been more about putting action behind how I feel.”

What is in Duke Energy’s settlement?

The proposed settlement reached last week would reduce Duke Energy Progress’ original request by more than half.

It includes an accelerated return to customers of $120 million in annual federal tax credits tied to nuclear, solar and hydroelectric generation and a new refund mechanism that would return money to customers, with interest, if planned infrastructure upgrades are not completed on time.

Duke says federal funding will also reduce what customers would pay for reliability upgrades at the Roxboro Steam Plant.

Duke shareholders would contribute an additional $10 million for low-income bill assistance and weatherization programs.

Several parties have agreed to the settlement, including the North Carolina Public Staff, which represents utility customers before the commission, the Carolina Industrial Group for Fair Utility Rates, Carolina Utility Customers Association, North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association and Walmart.

The Environmental Defense Fund has also signed onto the settlements reached in both the Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas rate cases. EDF has called the agreements a step in the right direction while continuing to push for additional protections for customers, particularly as electricity demand from data centers grows.

Not everyone believes the reductions go far enough.

Attorney General Jeff Jackson intervened in the Duke Energy Progress case in July and has pushed for deeper reductions in both of Duke’s North Carolina rate cases. Gov. Josh Stein has also opposed Duke’s earlier rate requests and called for protections to prevent existing customers from shouldering costs created by large new electricity users.

Advocates point to Duke Energy profits

NCLCV also pointed to Duke Energy’s recent earnings Tuesday as it argued against additional increases.

Duke reported $1.077 billion in second-quarter net income, up from $971 million during the same period last year.

NCLCV Senior Director of Public Affairs Dan Crawford used the earnings to question why customers should be asked to pay more. In prepared remarks, Crawford noted that Duke’s request had already been reduced following months of public opposition and called on regulators to go further.

Duke has said its financial strength helps it attract the capital needed to make major investments while keeping financing costs down.

The utility says those investments are necessary to maintain reliability and resilience, comply with environmental requirements and maintain and expand its generation portfolio. Duke told regulators its North Carolina retail plant balances have grown by roughly $3 billion since its previous rate case.

Data centers raise questions about who pays

Another major issue emerging in Duke’s rate cases is how to handle rapid growth from large electricity users, particularly data centers.

Stein and Jackson have called for enforceable protections to ensure data centers cover the costs associated with serving their enormous electricity demands rather than shifting those costs to existing customers.

The proposed Duke Energy Progress settlement does not settle that question entirely. Instead, it establishes a separate process for developing a new rate structure for large-load customers.

EDF, despite supporting the broader settlement, is among the groups pushing for stronger protections.

“If we’re building new generation to serve these giant facilities, it needs to be paid for by some of the wealthiest corporations in the entire world,” Will Scott, Southeast climate and clean energy director for EDF, told WRAL. “It shouldn’t just be going on Grandma’s light bill.”

Duke maintains that large-load customers will pay the costs of serving them and ultimately benefit other customers by spreading the utility’s fixed costs across a larger customer base.

The company has estimated that contracted large-load growth could generate billions of dollars in benefits for other North Carolina customers over 15 years and eventually reduce residential bills by several dollars per month.

What happens next

Tuesday marked the start of the expert-witness portion of the proceeding, following the public hearings held earlier this year. The Utilities Commission will determine whether Duke Energy Progress’ proposed rates are “just and reasonable” and what rates should apply to individual customer classes.

The commission can approve or modify the proposed settlement.

If approved as proposed, the first increase would take effect Jan. 1, 2027, followed by another increase in 2028.

For McNeill, the proceeding ultimately comes down to what those numbers mean for families.

“I just want them to really think about the community as a whole,” she said. “Put a face to that number.”