Public condemns increase in energy costs

Some Duke Energy customers might be feeling the heat a little less this winter.

The company, which services 2 million customers in North Carolina and South Carolina — including Orange County — is proposing double-digit increases in electricity costs.

The proposed increases of about 17 percent for residential customers and 14 percent for businesses could take effect by February 2012.

Betsy Conway, a spokeswoman for Duke Energy, said the increases have come out of necessity.

“We’ve reached a point where the rates the customers pay no longer cover the cost to serve them,” she said.

The company has already increased its rate by 8 percent since last year.

Don Pinney, manager of Sutton’s Drug Store on Franklin Street, said he’s worried about the effects of higher energy costs on local businesses like his.

“Any extra cost has an impact,” he said. “You either have to raise prices to cover it, or cut hours to make the difference.”

Rep. William Brisson, D-Bladen, said the increases would adversely affect residents during tough economic times.

“I don’t think the folks can afford it,” he said. “I’m sure there’s a large percentage of the legislature who would not be in favor of it.”

Inside Durham’s City Hall Wednesday night, the N.C. Utilities Commission — who will approve or deny the increase — heard testimony from a standing-room-only crowd of citizens.

The commission plans to take the public’s comments into consideration before making their decision in November or December.

Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, told the commission that Duke Energy has too much lobbying influence at the state legislature.

“I want that power imbalance to be addressed tonight when you hear from all these people,” Kinnaird said.

One of the more emotional testimonies came from Katherine Benson, a Durham resident and mother, whose voice cracked several times as she spoke.

Benson described the effect the increased costs would have on her family, already struggling after her infant’s emergency medical procedures put her family $11,000 in debt.

“I work full time, and my husband works three jobs,” she said, holding her two small children.

“It is obscene for them to steal from babies while they are making millions in profit.”

About 100 people from groups including the N.C. chapter of the NAACP, Catholic Charities and Occupy Durham gathered outside of City Hall to speak out against the move.

Charlie Soeder, a Durham resident and self-employed scientist, protested the proposed increase outside City Hall.

“(Energy companies) act as sociopaths,” he said. “It’s how they’re structured. They care about nothing more than how they can profit.”

Soeder said he has cut down his energy use as a result of already rising costs.

Cheers erupted inside City Hall when the Raging Grannies — an eccentrically dressed and politically active group of singing seniors — serenaded the crowd with songs of protest.

One of the Grannies, Lori Hoyt, a retired Chapel Hill resident, said the notice in the mail from Duke Energy threw her for a loop.

“People are realizing we’re being screwed,” she said.

With her children growing restless, Benson warned the commission that with an increase in electrical costs, families like hers won’t be out stimulating the economy anymore.

“We’ll just stay at home,” she said.

“And I guess we’ll do it with the lights off.”

Contact the State & National Editor at state@dailytarheel.com.