Duke Energy said this Thursday morning that its profits are up significantly this year, driven by population growth around Charlotte, power plant construction and new data centers.
Duke Energy earned $4.2 billion in profit in the first three quarters this year — up 11.2% from this time last year. That includes earnings from the Carolinas, Florida and Indiana.
Duke President Harry Sidaris called out population growth in Charlotte in particular as a major money maker for the utility:
“Charlotte’s the fastest-growing city in the U.S.,” Sidaris said. “So being able to serve that load with transmission and distribution, those investments as well as the generation — we’re seeing no end to the data centers and economic development projects as we continue to work through the funnel on those.”
The earnings call comes two days after Democrats swept the midterm elections. Sidaris said the election won’t negatively affect the utility’s plans to power new data centers, adding that the newly elected leaders share Duke’s goals for reliable, affordable power.
“They share our goal, too, of protecting our customers and making sure these large loads pay their fair share and provide benefits to the customers,” Sidaris said, pointing to the company’s current contract conditions and recently filed large load tariff proposals.
The utility collaborated with data center developers to design rates that would cover some of the upfront costs of serving their facilities. State regulators still haven’t approved the proposal.
