Perhaps you have heard that Duke Energy is petitioning the NC Utilities Commission to allow a substantial rate hike: 18 percent over two years!
Add this to the list of price related grievances – food, rent, gas – all creeping beyond what most would agree is reasonable.
At the Harrelson Center’s Help Hub, we have a front row seat and see daily how this economy cuts deeply and painfully into many households throughout the region, with Duke Energy’s rates among the biggest challenges.
For over 10 years, our financial resources have supported residents in crisis, people who need assistance for rent, utilities, transportation and other basic-need expenses.
Help Hub is one of several local resources listed on Duke Energy’s website for assistance with utility bills and disconnection avoidance in the tri-county area. Consider this: over a period of 40 months, just over three years, Help Hub raised funds and then spent half a million dollars just to help Duke Energy customers pay their bill and avoid disconnection. So far, as of June 1, 2026, 322 households have received $83,512.00, an average of $259 each. Other utility resource providers are Catholic Charities, Department of Social Services, NHC Senior Resource Center, and St. Vincent de Paul.
To expect nonprofits and local governments to cover this corporate-imposed crisis is to accept that charitable contributions and tax dollars should prop up Duke Energy, which reported approximately $5B in profits in 2024. To take action locally, financial assistance providers referenced above, together with a few other housing focused nonprofits, are proactively convening and have engaged local Duke Energy resources to better manage client situations case by case.
Duke Energy is exacerbating housing instability, profiting off of those who have the least, and putting community and individual safety at risk. Examples might include heat exhaustion or hypothermia, spoiled foods, and reallocation of funds from critical needs.
Duke Energy may be leading the way toward greater inequality, increased poverty, and negative health outcomes. A 2026 federal report revealed that utility companies shut off residential electric service 13.5 million times in 2024 over unpaid bills; a separate report ranked NC #2 in utility disconnections of the 42 states that report. In 2024, there were over 400,000 electric disconnections in North Carolina, with Duke Energy being the state’s largest utility. We further understand the current rate hike to include Duke recouping $72 million in unpaid bills in 2023-2026, plus additional $10 million profit on that $72 million. Yet, in 2024, Duke Energy still managed to post a $5 billion profit.
Some simple calculations suggest that less than 2 percent of the shareholder dividends Duke paid out could have prevented all customer shutoffs in 2024.
You can weigh in.
NC Utilities Commission held its final public hearing in Durham in early June drawing some 200 people who lined up to speak and plead on the record. But the online consumer statement portal remains a viable way to have your opinion added to the official record. Be sure to use the correct docket number: E-2, Sub 1380 for Duke Energy Progress, which serves the eastern half of the state. (Docket No. E-7, Sub 1329 covers Duke Energy Carolinas, which serves the western and Piedmont regions).
The final decision is not expected until later in 2026, with a potential 10-month cutoff date September 20, 2026. If NC Utilities Commission does not reply within 10 months of filing, new rates are considered automatically approved. The NC Utilities Commission holds the power. We hope you will consider being part of the process.
NOTE: On June 22nd, Duke Energy Carolinas officially amended its rate hike request with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. Responding to heavy public pushback and objections filed by NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson, Duke lowered its proposed cumulative residential rate increase from 18 percent to 11.6 percent. Still too high, but good to see “public pushback” is having the desired impact.
