Duke Energy rate hike: What NC retirees need to know about higher bills
.JPG "Duke Energy has asked the state utilities commission for permission to raise rates permanently as well as to help recover winter heating costs. This photo shows a 50-megawatt, four-hour battery energy storage system at the former Duke Energy Allen Steam Station in Belmont.")
For North Carolinians living on Social Security checks or fixed pensions, the next few months could bring consequential decisions about how much they pay to keep the lights on, the heat running and the air conditioner working.
Duke Energy is pursuing two separate increases before state regulators that, taken together, could add meaningfully to monthly power bills. Here is what retirees and other customers should know — including how to weigh in, what assistance is available and where the proposals stand.
How much more you could pay
Duke Energy Carolinas is asking the North Carolina Utilities Commission to approve a roughly 18% residential rate increase, which would mean about $20 to $30 more per month for many households, according to testimony presented at a Charlotte hearing. The broader rate request for all customers is roughly 15% to 16% phased in over several years, with a first-year increase that would take effect no later than Jan. 1 if approved, and a second increase in 2028.
Separately, Duke has asked regulators to let it recover about $800 million in fuel and power costs from this past winter — $500 million for Duke Energy Carolinas and $309 million for Duke Energy Progress. That charge would add about $6.90 to $7.88 to a typical residential bill each month, beginning as soon as June 1 and lasting roughly 19 months.
If both requests are approved, customers would pay more for the electricity they use going forward and pay back the cost of power Duke purchased during January’s cold snap.
Why Duke says it’s needed
Duke Energy has tied the increases to grid reliability, growing demand and long-term infrastructure. The company has added 150,000 customers in North Carolina over the past two years and said Jan. 27 was the highest day of winter energy demand in Duke Energy Carolinas’ history, with temperatures running 10 to 20 degrees below normal.
“When customers need power the most – during extreme cold or heat – reliability is not optional,” Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president, said in a news release. “Our responsibility is to deliver electricity safely and reliably, even when demand exceeds what our system can supply on its own.”
Duke says fuel costs are passed through to customers without markup and that its rates remain below the national average.
What retirees on fixed incomes are saying
Rick Martin, a 69-year-old disabled retired truck driver and mechanic in Stokes County, told The Charlotte Observer his recent power bills have been about $118 to $123, manageable only because he turns off the heat in winter and burns firewood.
“15% doesn’t mean much to a company that makes billions,” Martin said. “But to retirees, it’s life changing. It’s a nightmare.”
Martin, who lives on a fixed income and has heart and lung problems, said he has already cut back on groceries, driving and basic comfort. He does not plan to use air conditioning this summer, “like primitive times,” he said.
“If they do this rate increase, I’ll just have to tough it out,” Martin said. “It just means I might cut out something else, sometimes food or medicine or whatever, whatever it takes to make the monthly bills go through.”
Charlotte small business owner Katie Rothweiler told regulators her January power bill climbed from about $226 last year to $282 this year despite cutting usage. “Health care and power should not be a choice. Groceries and power should not be a choice,” she said.
How to make your voice heard
The Charlotte hearing was one stop in a longer statewide process. Two more in-person public witness hearings are scheduled May 6 in Winston-Salem and May 12 in Durham, followed by an expert witness hearing in Raleigh. The North Carolina Utilities Commission and the independent Public Staff — the agency charged with representing customers — collect testimony across the state before the commission decides whether to approve, modify or reject the request later this year.
Customers do not need a lawyer or technical expertise to testify. Speakers at the Charlotte courthouse described their household bills, the trade-offs they were making and the impact another increase would have on retirement budgets, prescriptions and groceries.
Gov. Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson have both opposed Duke’s request on affordability grounds. Stein has urged the commission to reject the $800 million fuel-cost request outright.
The CEO pay question
The proposed increases have collided with disclosures about executive compensation. Duke Energy’s 2026 shareholder presentation showed new CEO Harry Sideris earned about $13.6 million in 2025, a partial year after taking over in April, according to Charlotte Observer reporting. Former CEO Lynn Good received about $8.3 million before stepping down, bringing combined compensation for the company’s current and former CEOs to nearly $22 million that year.
A report from the Energy and Policy Institute found Duke ranked among the top 10 utilities for CEO pay last year.
Duke says about 90% of Sideris’ compensation is performance-based or tied to stocks that vest gradually over about three years, designed to align pay with reliability, customer outcomes and long-term performance. The company also notes that executive compensation is not directly tied to customer rates, which are set by regulators, and that Duke must return excess earnings to customers.
“Affordability is a critical issue for many customers, and Duke Energy’s leadership and the Board consider that context carefully,” the company said in a statement.
What happens next
The Utilities Commission will weigh customer testimony, expert filings and Public Staff recommendations before issuing a decision later this year. Tens of thousands of residents across the Carolinas have signed a petition calling for an independent audit of Duke Energy. For customers like Martin, the timing of that decision will determine whether another summer is spent toughing it out.
This report was produced with the assistance of a proprietary tool powered by artificial intelligence and using our own originally reported, written and published content. It was reviewed and edited by our journalists. To learn more about how The Charlotte Observer is using AI in our newsroom, see our policy here.
