Federal agency dismisses advocates’ complaint against Duke Energy

Federal regulators have dismissed a Durham advocacy group’s claim that Duke Energy builds too many power plants, unfairly increasing electric rates.

NC WARN, a frequent critic of Duke, filed the complaint in December with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The group asked FERC to hold a hearing in Raleigh and study whether Duke should connect its transmission lines to neighboring utilities.

Duke responded that those issues are the responsibility of state utility commissions, not the federal agency.

In its order Thursday, FERC decided that it has jurisdiction over the issues WARN raised – but disagreed with its arguments.

“We find that NC WARN has not shown that Duke Energy’s generation construction or other practices have led to unjust and unreasonable wholesale energy or transmission rates,” the order said.

The federal commission also found no evidence that Duke has manipulated electricity markets, as WARN claimed, or ignored FERC’s past urging that utilities consider joining regional transmission organizations or RTOs.

This story was originally published April 30, 2015 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Federal agency dismisses advocates’ complaint against Duke Energy."