- Rates include upgrades to make the grid more resilient and
shorten the duration of outages
- New programs will give customers more control over energy
use and help low-income customers
- Approval includes performance incentives to hold the utility
accountable for reliability, encourage renewables and reduce peak
system loads
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 12,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy Carolinas will
implement new rates for North
Carolina customers on Jan. 15
as approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission
(NCUC).
Rates for North Carolina
customers will remain well below the national average, even after
Duke Energy Carolinas completes approximately $7.7 billion in upgrades to make the electric
grid more resistant to outages and enable faster power
restoration.
And as in its Duke Energy Progress order issued in September,
NCUC approval covers multiyear rates, along with incentives and
penalties to hold the utility accountable for reliability and other
performance metrics.
"We've made significant infrastructure upgrades in recent years
to meet customer needs and expectations," said Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy's North Carolina president. "This commission
order enables us to continue meeting the energy demands of a
growing region while limiting annual rate increases and giving
customers more cost certainty."
Rate changes start Jan.
15
After extensive evaluation since the rate review was requested
last January, along with constructive settlements with the NCUC
Public Staff and other parties, the NCUC approved a net increase in
retail revenues in year one of about $436 million (8.3%),
followed by $173 million (3.3%) in
year two and $165 million (3.1%) in year three.
Customer bills already reflect an interim rate adjustment
implemented Sept. 1. Accounting for
that, beginning Jan. 15, the change
from current rates for a typical residential customer using 1,000
kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month will be an increase of $10.04, from $130.29 to $140.33
per month, followed by a $4.19
increase on Jan. 1, 2025, and a
$4.10 increase on Jan. 1, 2026, for a total of $148.62 by 2026.
According to the Edison Electric Institute, the national monthly
average for typical residential customers was $171.67 as of Jan. 1,
2023, before other utilities go through their own rate
adjustments.
The full NCUC rate review order can be found
here. Duke Energy Carolinas serves about 2 million households
and businesses in central and western North Carolina, including Charlotte, Durham and the Triad.
Help for low-income customers
The NCUC ordered Duke Energy Carolinas to establish a Customer
Assistance Program (CAP) that reduces bills for the utility's most
vulnerable customers through a $42
monthly credit for 12 months. Customers helped by the Low-Income
Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP) or the Crisis Intervention
Program (CIP) – federally funded initiatives for those at or below
130% and 150% of the poverty level, respectively – will be
automatically enrolled in CAP beginning this month in partnership
with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human
Services.
Duke Energy will also refer CAP customers to weatherization and
energy efficiency services that can help provide long-term
solutions to reduce energy usage. As part of a settlement in the
rate cases for both Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress,
Duke Energy shareholders will contribute $10
million for health and safety repairs that would otherwise
prevent low-income customers from qualifying for weatherization and
other energy efficiency improvements. Duke Energy shareholders are
contributing an additional $6 million
to the Share the Light Fund® in support of
North Carolina customers.
New options for all customers
For all customers, Duke Energy Carolinas has also established
new time-of-use rate options and energy efficiency programs to help
lower their costs and reduce energy use:
- Time-of-Use rates incentivize customers to shift
electricity use to periods of low energy demand. Simple examples
include running a dishwasher overnight or doing laundry on
weekends; options are available for commercial and industrial
customers as well. More detail can be found at
duke-energy.com/NewRatesNC.
- A Tariff on Bill program called "Improve & Save"
will enable residential customers – owners and renters – to pay for
energy efficiency upgrades through their Duke Energy bill. The
program will incentivize customers to replace inefficient electric
HVAC systems or insulation in a manner that ensures their annual
savings are greater than the monthly cost of the upgrades –
improving their service while lowering their bill. The program is
expected to launch in first quarter 2024, and a dedicated webpage
for the program is coming soon.
"Our goal with these programs is to help offset the rate
increase as much as possible by giving customers more control over
their energy use," said Bowman. "The programs are designed to
reduce costs across the entire system, benefiting all
customers."
Holding the utility accountable for reliability, renewables
goals
As in the Duke Energy Progress order, another new aspect of this
rate approval is the implementation of performance incentive
mechanisms (PIMs). First allowed by North
Carolina's clean energy legislation (HB951), PIMs advance
state policy goals through financial incentives and penalties that
encourage utility performance in areas of shared interest with
customers.
Following settlements with various participants in the rate
review process, the NCUC approved three PIMs with annual incentives
that grow up to $15 million in
potential rewards as well as $15
million in potential penalties for Duke Energy Carolinas
across three areas:
- Reliability – holds the utility accountable to maintain
expected levels of reliability through graduated penalties that
would be distributed to customers if reliability dips below target
levels.
- Renewables Integration and Encouragement – encourages
adoption of clean energy resources across three categories:
- DER Integration – advances net energy metering (NEM)
distributed energy resources (DERs), which allow customers to
access zero-emissions generation – such as rooftop solar – at their
homes and businesses, reducing their electricity consumption from
the grid.
- Large Customer Renewable Program Encouragement –
supports large commercial and industrial customers, educational
institutions and local governments that have clean energy goals and
want access to renewable energy.
- Utility-Scale Interconnection – incentivizes solar and
solar-plus-storage interconnections above the estimated annual
amounts in Duke Energy's Carbon Plan.
- Time-Differentiated and Dynamic Rate Enrollment –
encourages the utility to create and gain approval of innovative
rate designs and increase customer participation in existing rates
that are designed to reduce system peak load.
A new page on Duke Energy's website allows monitoring of these
PIMs as well as other tracking metrics related to customer service,
reliability and electric vehicle integration.
Duke Energy Carolinas
Duke Energy Carolinas, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns 19,500
megawatts of energy capacity, supplying electricity to 2.8 million
residential, commercial and industrial customers across a
24,000-square-mile service area in North
Carolina and South
Carolina.
Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in
Charlotte, N.C., is one of
America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities
serve 8.2 million customers in North
Carolina, South Carolina,
Florida, Indiana, Ohio
and Kentucky, and collectively own
50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves
1.6 million customers in North
Carolina, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 27,600
people.
Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition
to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural
gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity
generation by 2050. The company has interim carbon emission targets
of at least 50% reduction from electric generation by 2030, 50% for
Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions by
2035, and 80% from electric generation by 2040. In addition, the
company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy
storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies
such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.
Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2023 "World's Most Admired
Companies" list and Forbes' "World's Best Employers" list. More
information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke
Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and
videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about
people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues.
Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and
Facebook.
Contact: Bill Norton
24-hour media line: 800.559.3853
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SOURCE Duke Energy