Duke Energy lowers rate increase ask for Eastern NC and Asheville area

Residential electric customers will pay more on their monthly bill starting in January, but under a new Duke Energy agreement, it won’t be as high as it could have been.

Duke Energy Progress, the electric utility for Eastern North Carolina and the Asheville area, agreed last week to lower its ask for an electric rate increase from 15.1% to 9.3% over two years, according to company spokesperson Bill Norton.

That means the average residential electric customer would pay $9.62 more on their monthly bill each month starting in January, and an additional $5.89 each month starting in January 2028, Norton told The News & Observer.

The new settlement would also promise Duke up to a 9.8% return on equity — the amount of profit that the utility is allowed to make from building new infrastructure.

The settlement comes over a year after Duke Energy Progress first proposed a multi-year rate plan to the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Their initial ask would’ve increased customers’ bills by 15.1% over two years and promised Duke a 10.95% return on equity.

In the months since, both Duke Energy Progress and its western counterpart, Duke Energy Carolinas, have faced intense pushback from state leaders and customers, many of whom struggled to pay rising electric bills over the winter. Duke Energy reported $5 billion in profits in 2025, and last week reported its strongest second quarter ever, with over $1 billion in net income.

In response, Duke Energy Carolinas also lowered its proposed rate increase last month, which will now amount to 9.5% on customers’ bills over the next two years.

Duke Energy Progress’ new proposal isn’t final. Starting Tuesday, Aug. 11, the Utilities Commission will question expert witnesses about the case, and will likely make a final decision this fall.

Both of Duke Energy’s utilities — Progress in the east, and Carolinas in the west — are set to merge into one combined utility by Jan. 1, making this set of rate cases the last in which the two will negotiate separately.

What’s in Duke’s plans?

As part of the Duke Energy Carolinas rate negotiations, Microsoft has moved to open a new case with the Utilities Commission to consider a new large load tariff — essentially, an extra fee for data center operators and other big customers that use Duke’s electricity.

With data centers starting to draw more energy from the electric grid, there’s been increased pressure in North Carolina and nationally to put in place tariffs for data center operators, requiring them to pay more for electricity than everyday customers.

In the new settlement, several key players — including industrial trade groups, environmental groups, data center operators and North Carolina’s Public Staff — all agreed that they “do not oppose” a discussion on large load tariffs, as long as the hearings wrap up in time for the Jan. 1 Duke merger.

The settlement also outlines a possible schedule for the negotiations, in which Duke would ask stakeholders to submit proposals for large load tariffs starting by Aug. 17. The company would share summaries of the proposals by Aug. 28, and would seek comments by Sept. 11, with reply comments due by Sept. 25.

While Norton said Duke doesn’t have specific goals going into a potential large load tariff case, he added that the company has had “constructive discussions” about the possibility so far.

“Our analysis shows that large load customers like data centers will not only pay for the costs required to serve them but also contribute additional revenue to lower costs for all other customers,” he said in a statement on Monday. “That will remain the case regardless of whether a large load tariff is established or not.”

In addition, the Duke Energy Progress settlement would require Duke to refund customers for the costs of new construction projects that the company doesn’t complete on time.

It would also block the company from funding some of its administrative costs through the rate case, cutting out 50% of Duke’s aviation expenses, 50% of its expenses for the Board of Directors, and 75% of its expenses for the company’s top five executives.

‘The politics have changed’

Though several stakeholders have signed on to support Duke Energy Progress’ scaled-back rate plan, it doesn’t yet have support from Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s office.

Jackson, along with N.C. Gov. Josh Stein, has been among the staunchest critics of Duke Energy’s plan. In June, he publicly called on Duke to lower its request to a 7.4% return on equity. While the 9.8% is a notable decrease from Duke’s initial request, it’s still higher than Jackson’s ask.

Seeing this level of pushback on a utility rate case isn’t the norm in North Carolina, said Sue Sturgis, a researcher for the nonprofit Energy and Policy Institute.

“The politics have changed for Duke,” Sturgis said. “It’s not the kind of situation where Duke can just waltz into the Utilities Commission, ask for what it wants and get it. It’s just a different reality.”

Part of that shift is likely driven by Duke’s rising profits, Sturgis said. It’s also likely linked to the upcoming elections this fall, she said. Since the state legislature and the state treasurer each choose some of the Utilities Commission’s members, a change in those offices could also impact the commission itself.

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