Duke Energy Progress requests rate review by North Carolina regulators to support grid infrastructure improvements

In a new proposal to the North Carolina Utilities Commission this week, Duke Energy Progress requested a steady rate increase over three years to back spending on electric grid infrastructure improvements, weather resistance, and a two-way system overall.

Customers would feel a pinch – a $14.72 per month increase to bills for the average customer beginning Oct. 1, 2023, followed by another $5.62 per month rise in 2024 and $5.21 in 2025. This would increase Duke Energy Progress retail revenues by around $326 million in its first year. In 2024, those revenues would climb another $151 million, closing out with an additional $138 million in 2025 to reach a total 16 percent increase.

“Our customers count on us to deliver affordable, reliable, and increasingly clean energy every day,” Stephen De May, Duke Energy’s North Carolina state president, said. “We’re sensitive to the financial pressures our customers face, and we remain committed to keeping rates as low as possible.”

However, some customers could gain a modicum of relief from a new Customer Assistance Program proposed as part of the rate case. If approved by regulators, it would reduce monthly bills by $42 per month, solely for the most vulnerable customers. In Duke’s vision, this would be partnered with new energy efficiency programs for all customers to help offset the proposed rate increase.

This marks the first rate case the utility has pushed for since 2019 and could affect around 1.5 million people in North Carolina.