Duke Energy Wants $570 Million In Rate Hikes From NC To Cover Costs Of Florence, Michael
Duke Energy is seeking permission from North Carolina regulators to charge its customers for costs related to three destructive 2018 storms. The Charlotte-based utility said it plans to propose sometime this year raising customers’ bills. It wants to recover costs it incurred from Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Michael and winter storm Diego as part of that rate increase. Duke estimated the storms cost $761 million, with the majority of expenses from damage in North Carolina. Duke wants to recover about $570 million from North Carolina customers.
“North Carolina endured three massive storms that caused significant devastation and required Duke Energy to completely rebuild parts of its system in order to restore power to our customers,” said Duke spokeswoman Meredith Archie in a statement. “The N.C. Utilities Commission will ultimately determine what’s appropriate for customer rates based on a long-standing and very transparent public process.”
Duke announced its plans following a rate hike last year for its residential customers in eastern and central North Carolina, including in the Charlotte area. In that hike, a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month saw their bill increase from $103.85 to $104.69, according to Duke.
Consumer advocates worry Duke will keep looking to raise power bills. “We are worried that Duke and other utilities may continue to seek rate increases on a more regular basis,” said Al Ripley, director of energy, housing and consumer affairs for the N.C. Justice Center, a nonprofit that focuses on social justice issues. ”And for low-income ratepayers, these rate cases are just not affordable.” He said it is fair for Duke to recover some of the storm costs, but added that North Carolina needs to do more to help low-income people so they can afford electricity. That includes programs to provide better energy efficiency for low-income residents, he said.
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https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article224673510.html
