New rates go into effect for Duke Energy Progress customers in North Carolina
Starting this week, Duke Energy Progress will implement new rates for its North Carolina customers.
With the new rates, which have been approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC), the typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month will see an increase of $8.04, from $144.12 to $152.16 per month. This will be followed by a $4.67 increase on Oct. 1, 2024, and a $5.15 increase on Oct. 1, 2025. This results in a total monthly bill of $161.98 by late 2025.
The new rates reflect some $6.3 billion in upgrades the company has made to make the electric grid more resistant to outages and enable faster power restoration.
“We’ve made major infrastructure enhancements in recent years to meet our customers’ needs and expectations, and this order will enable even more improvement while limiting annual rate increases and giving customers more cost certainty,” Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president, said.
The company notes that rates for North Carolina customers will remain below the national average. The national monthly average for typical residential customers was $171.67 as of Jan. 1, 2023, according to the Edison Electric Institute.
In addition, the NCUC ordered Duke Energy Progress to establish a Customer Assistance Program (CAP) that will reduce bills for the utility’s most vulnerable customers through a $42 monthly credit for 12 months. Customers helped by the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) or the Crisis Intervention Program (CIP) will be automatically enrolled in CAP once the program launches in January.
Further, Duke Energy will also refer CAP customers to weatherization and energy efficiency services that can help provide long-term solutions to reduce energy usage.
Also, as part of a settlement in the rate cases for both Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy shareholders will contribute $10 million for health and safety repairs that would otherwise prevent low-income customers from qualifying for weatherization and other energy efficiency improvements.
Additionally, Duke Energy Progress has established new time-of-use rate options and energy efficiency programs to help lower their costs and reduce energy use.
Time-of-Use rates incentivize customers to shift electricity use to periods of low energy demand. That may mean running a dishwasher overnight or doing laundry on weekends. Also, a Tariff on Bill program will enable residential customers to pay for energy efficiency upgrades through their Duke Energy bill. This is designed to incentivize customers to replace inefficient electric HVAC systems or insulation in a manner that ensures their annual savings are greater than the monthly cost of the upgrades.
“Our goal with all of these programs is to help offset the rate increase as much as possible by giving customers more control over their energy use,” Bowman said. “Each of these programs is designed to reduce costs across the entire system, benefiting all customers.”
Another first-time aspect of this rate approval includes performance incentive mechanisms (PIMs), which seek to encourage utility performance in areas of shared interest with customers.
