Duke Energy has begun the process of fully combining its two service territories, a dozen years after Duke Energy merged with Progress Energy. This week, state regulators hosted public hearings on the utility’s proposal.
The utility said combining Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas will “unlock more than $1 billion in net system savings to customers,” though the final amount could vary. Duke provided a written statement to WFAE that these savings would result from “planning and execution for future resources and operational efficiencies.”
Tuesday night, two members of the public testified before state regulators during a virtual public hearing. Asheville-based Rachel Cohen commented on Duke’s pending rate hike proposal, a separate case.
“Raising rates for customers now, on the cusp of a deal that should lower Duke’s costs and increase profits for shareholders, doesn’t make a lot of sense for me, and I think it’s a bad deal for ratepayers,” Cohen said.
Cohen proposed holding off on any rate hikes until after January 2027, when the business combination would be complete.
Duke Energy filed a proposal to raise rates for all customers in November. The proposed rate hikes would increase Duke Energy’s revenues by over $1.7 billion.
Raleigh-based Gary Smith, chair of the North Carolina Council of Churches, said the group urged Duke Energy to increase its environmental commitments as part of the combination. He encouraged Duke to adopt, as company policy, the original interim carbon-pollution reduction target, which would require the utility to lower carbon emissions to 70% of 2005 levels by 2030.
“Summers here have become hotter, ocean levels continue to rise and storms have become more severe,” Smith said. “All of these are making life more difficult for North Carolinians.”
Burning fossil fuels is the primary driver of human-caused climate change, which scientists have linked to rising temperatures, elevated sea levels and worsening storms. The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s analysis of 2022 data ranked Duke Energy as the nation’s third-largest carbon emitter.
The combination would take effect Jan. 1, 2027. It would not impact the current rate case proceedings, in which Duke Energy is requesting the following adjustments to rates:
- Residential rates for DEC customers would increase 11.9% in 2027 and 4% in 2028.
- Residential rates for DEP customers would increase 14.1% in 2027 and 3.5% in 2028.
- Commercial rates for DEC customers would increase 8.7% in 2027 and 3.9% in 2028.
- Commercial rates for DEP customers would increase 9.2% in 2027 and 4.6% in 2028.
- Industrial rates for DEC customers would increase 6.3% in 2027 and 3.4% in 2028.
- Industrial rates for DEP customers would increase 7.4% in 2027 and 4.3% in 2028.
Instead, Duke Energy plans to slowly merge existing rate schedules over multiple rate cases until both current service territories pay the same rates.
“We supplemented our filing in October with new analysis based on updated modeling in the 2025 Carolinas Resource Plan. That new analysis projected potential savings of approximately $2.3 billion from 2027-2040,” Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton wrote in a written statement to WFAE.
