Overview
- Duke filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission to recover about $809 million from winter fuel and purchased power, proposing a 19-month payback that would raise typical residential bills by $6.90 to $7.88 starting June 1 if approved.
- An extreme cold snap in late January and early February pushed demand beyond in-state generation, setting a Jan. 27 winter peak of 37,308 megawatt-hours and forcing purchases from neighboring utilities at high market prices.
- The company says the charges are pass-through costs with no markup and cover roughly $500 million for Duke Energy Carolinas and $309 million for Duke Energy Progress.
- Governor Josh Stein criticized shifting the winter costs to customers and pointed to his 2025 veto of SB 266, while conservative analysts countered that the law is meant to cut long-term costs for ratepayers.
- Duke says the event shows the need for more capacity and plans about 19,600 megawatts of new generation over the next decade, including plants in Person County, N.C., and Anderson County, S.C., to reduce reliance on emergency purchases.