Duke Energy announced $4.9 billion in profits last year. The utility is currently asking state regulators for permission to raise rates and increase its returns.
Profits for North Carolina’s largest electrical utility are up $400 million from 2024. Infrastructure investments and growth across the utility’s service territories drove that increase. That includes new natural gas and energy storage projects. The utility has started construction on four new natural gas turbines in North Carolina, with in-service dates within the next three years.
North Carolina had the 18th-lowest electricity rates in 2025, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The utility plans to raise rates in 2027 by up to 14% for some residential customers.
Duke Energy President Harry Sideris said the increase would fund grid improvements and new power plants.
“We know there’s never a good time for energy bills to go up,” Sideris said during a call with investors Tuesday morning. “Families and businesses feel every increase, and affordability matters. That’s why our focus is straightforward: keep costs as low as possible, while maintaining reliability.”
The new rates would also increase Duke’s return on these capital projects, which it needs to “raise significant capital to preserve its financial standing with investors and credit rating agencies,” according to a recent filing with the state utility commission. This would allow the utility to continue building power plants and strengthening the grid, including distribution system investments that help deliver energy to residential and commercial customers.
Duke has forecast an unprecedented increase in energy demand over the next decade, up 7% since its forecasts three years ago. Population growth and increased electricity use from existing customers — such as electric vehicles and home electrification — make up about a third of Duke’s projected new demand in the Carolinas.
The rest comes from economic development. Duke predicts that data centers will drive 75% of that economic development by 2030. In the last three months, Duke has signed contracts with data center developers totaling 1.5 gigawatts of new demand, and expects many of those projects to come online starting in 2028.
“We don’t anticipate any of those backing out,” Sideris said. “We have a robust pipeline that we continue to work, so we feel very confident with our projections of 5-7.”
“5-7” refers to the utility’s percent of estimated increase in earnings per share through 2030. During the company’s earnings call on Tuesday, Sideris lauded the economic ripple effects these new facilities would have, creating “industry clusters” around them. He also said they would reduce rates for all customers because fixed fuel costs would be spread over a larger customer base.
