Customers could soon be paying more for their Duke Energy bill

Duke Energy is considering rate increases for its North Carolina customers. 

Central and western North Carolina, which are served by Duke Energy Carolinas, would see a 13.6 percent increase. Duke Energy Progress, serving central and eastern North Carolina, would see a 14.9 percent increase in rates. 

Meredith Archie, a spokesperson for Duke Energy, said the money from these rate increases would go toward cleaner energy sources. 

“We’ve done a lot of work over the past few years to retire our older, less efficient coal plants and to really shift to more state-of-the-art cleaner natural gas plants as well as solar,” she said.

Archie said Duke Energy is in the process of closing all of their coal ash basins across the state. The extra revenue from the proposed rate increases would help cover the costs.

Rachel Maguire, a senior at UNC double majoring in psychology and women’s and gender studies, lives off-campus and pays for electric service from Duke Energy. She said she was shocked by the cost of her first electric bill in August and has tried to reduce her energy use since in an effort to save money. 

“Basically we’re now turning the air off every time we leave the house, leaving it on really high, not really turning on lights, trying not to use fans, just trying not to use power in general,” she said. 

Maguire said if Duke Energy were to raise its rates, she would have to change her spending habits.

“If they did raise prices, it would definitely negatively affect me and my ability to buy groceries and my ability to go out to dinner with my friends, and being social is important for having healthy mental health,” she said.

Jess Goodwin, a first-year student at UNC, is from Madison, North Carolina, which is near the Belews Creek coal ash site. She said she saw firsthand how people in her hometown were affected by the coal ash spill that occurred in the Dan River.

“A lot of people were affected economically, since many people make money off of tubing and kayaking in my town,” she said.

Goodwin said the effects of the spill also affected people’s health, and many people became sick from bacteria found in the water. She hopes the rate increases can help prevent more events of this nature. 

“I understand why Duke is raising their rates,” she said. “I’d like them to invest it in better technology that will prevent something like this from happening again.”

Leonard Green, senior staff attorney for the North Carolina Utilities Commission, said the commission has the task of weighing the interests of both the rate-payers and the utility when deliberating on this case. 

“The commission’s obligation is to set just and reasonable rates,” he said. “That generally means balancing the interests of ratepayers,to keep their rates as low as reasonably possible, with the interest of the utility to have enough funds to operate its system and make improvements or additions to its system.”

Green said the commission will decide whether or not to raise these rates based on feedback taken from public hearings before coming to a decision.

Duke Energy Progress requested the new rates take effect no later than Feb. 1, 2018, Green said. The utilities commission has set a schedule to try to meet the deadline. 

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