Duke Carolinas' Customers to State Regulators "Enough is Enough"

In many states, consumer-focused regulators protect the public interest by making sure utility monopolies charge only rates that are fair and reasonable. Last month the North Carolina Utilities Commission granted large increases to Duke Energy, despite growing outcry from residential customers over rising rates.

About 2.5 million Duke Carolinas customers in the Piedmont and parts of Western North Carolina await the Commission’s next decision on Duke’s request to raise rates by 16.7 percent, increase monthly fees, and add a new mandatory service charge. People are not sitting back.  Each week for the past two months, AARP has collected thousands of petitions from rate-payers on fixed, retirement incomes who say “enough is enough.” The fact that these same older customers make up the most active component of the electorate in midterms should remind the Governor, legislators and Utility  Commissioners that customers (voters) cannot write a blank check for Duke’s expenses, and Commissioners need to hold Duke accountable to fair and reasonable rates.

The public outcry is easy to understand when over 1.5 million North Carolinians are at risk of food insecurity and have to make the choice each month between heating and cooling their homes and paying other bills. The poverty rate continues to challenge North Carolina, with only 12 states having a higher percentage of people who fall below the poverty line.

When it comes to rising prices, older adults are among those most impacted, as slight Social Security cost-of-living adjustments fall behind the increasing costs of the basic goods and services they need.  Although Social Security remains the only source of income for over 40 percent of the state’s 65 plus, beneficiaries only received a two percent cost-of-living adjustment over the past two years.

In February, Duke Energy announced that it would apply tax savings to offset a portion of the current rate request pending before the NCUC.  But as it stands, the rate request does the opposite by dramatically increasing monthly fees and service charges. The average household will pay about $112 more for the electricity they use and even more when you include service fees.  Given that Duke is receiving a large windfall from reduced corporate taxes, it doesn’t make sense for Commissioners to make each customer give Duke another $112 a year.

To make matters worse, those who try to conserve energy will not be rewarded, but will in turn pay the same service fee as the highest energy users.  If approved, Duke Carolinas customers could pay about 20 dollars more each month before they even flip a light switch.

Duke Progress has also raised rates to reconnect electricity to a house, if that customer couldn’t pay the bill on time.  The new charge went up to $55 from $33 for a nights or weekend reconnection.

The Utilities Commission’s willingness to approve new higher rates isn’t just about seniors on fixed incomes.  It’s also about millennials struggling to save for retirement, students trying to pay back loans, and families trying to make ends meet.  This week and last, AARP delivered thousands of petitions and letters to the NC Utilities Commission as people plead their case that after buying food, medicine and gas, they have little left over to handle other spending needs. When it comes to keeping their homes heated or cooled, the matter is as urgent as life and death.

Let’s hold the Commission more accountable to the public it serves. There is no time like now to strike a better balance between the demands of Duke Shareholders, and the needs of families and older adults who are simply trying to get by.