When the doors opened at the Burke County courthouse in Morganton, North Carolina, on April 28, 2026, more than a dozen residents were already waiting to testify. One by one, they stood before members of the North Carolina Utilities Commission and swore to tell the truth about what a 15 percent electricity rate increase would do to their households. Across two days of public hearings, in Morganton on April 28 and Charlotte on April 29, customers of Duke Energy Carolinas delivered a blunt message: they cannot absorb another hike.
The hearings are part of a general rate case the utility filed under Docket E-7 Sub 1329. According to the rate schedules included in the application, a typical residential customer using roughly 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month would see monthly bills climb by more than $20. Duke Energy Carolinas serves approximately 2.9 million customers across the western and central portions of the state, per the company’s SEC filings, meaning the outcome of this proceeding will ripple through budgets from small mountain towns to Charlotte’s sprawling suburbs.
Sworn testimony, not just public comment
These were not town halls. Under NCUC rules, customers who testify at public witness hearings speak under oath, and their statements become part of the evidentiary record commissioners must weigh before approving, modifying, or rejecting the rate request. That distinction matters: unlike emails or online petitions, sworn testimony carries legal weight in the commission’s deliberations.
In Morganton, a city of roughly 17,000 at the foot of the Blue Ridge, residents described choosing between electricity bills and groceries. At the Charlotte session the following evening, a small-business owner testified that another jump in utility costs would force her to cut employee hours. The two locations capture starkly different economic realities within the same service territory: rural mountain communities where many residents live on fixed incomes, and the state’s largest city, where commercial and industrial ratepayers also face rising overhead.
Customers who want to examine the filing before submitting their own written comments can pull up case documents, motions, and exhibits through the commission’s public STAR electronic filing system.
Duke Energy’s case for higher rates
In its application, Duke Energy Carolinas argues the increase is necessary to recover capital investments made since its last general rate case, which resulted in new rates taking effect in 2024 under Docket E-7 Sub 1276. The company says it has spent heavily on upgrading transmission and distribution lines, hardening the grid against increasingly severe storms, and maintaining its generation fleet. The filing also cites rising costs for vegetation management and cybersecurity.
The application states that these investments are delivering measurable reliability improvements, including fewer and shorter outages across the service territory. Duke Energy Carolinas frames the spending as essential to meeting growing demand and complying with state energy policy directives.
Consumer advocates are unconvinced. The North Carolina Justice Center, which has historically intervened in Duke rate proceedings on behalf of low-income consumers, argues that shareholders should absorb a larger share of investment risk, particularly given the utility’s track record of consistent profitability. The organization contends that working families should not be asked to shoulder rising costs while investors continue to benefit from the company’s financial performance.
The NC Public Staff, an independent state agency whose statutory role is to represent the using and consuming public, is conducting its own review of the filing. In previous Duke Energy rate cases, the Public Staff has recommended smaller increases than the utility requested, sometimes flagging costs it considered imprudent or proposing alternative depreciation schedules. The agency has said its responsibility is to ensure that every dollar the company seeks to collect from customers is justified. Their testimony in this proceeding is expected to be one of the most influential factors in the commission’s final decision.
A pattern of rising bills
This is not the first time North Carolina ratepayers have faced a significant rate adjustment in recent memory. Duke Energy Carolinas’ last general rate case, filed under Docket E-7 Sub 1276, resulted in an increase that took effect in 2024. The company’s sister utility, Duke Energy Progress, has pursued its own separate rate proceedings on a similar timeline. Consumer advocates warn that the cumulative effect of successive hikes is compounding hardship for low-income households, particularly in rural counties where wages have not kept pace with rising costs.
North Carolina’s average residential electricity rate still falls below the national average, according to data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (The most recent full-year EIA state-level data available as of early 2026 covers 2024.) But that gap has been narrowing. A 15 percent increase, if approved in full, would push rates closer to the national median and hit hardest in counties where electricity already consumes a disproportionate share of household income.
Historically, the NCUC has not rubber-stamped utility requests. In several past cases, the commission approved increases meaningfully smaller than what the utility initially sought, particularly when organized opposition presented credible alternative cost analyses. Whether that pattern holds here depends on the strength of the evidence all parties bring to the months-long evidentiary process. Based on the timeline of prior Duke Energy rate cases, a final order could come roughly nine to twelve months after the initial filing.
Organized opposition is building
Several consumer and environmental organizations have signaled plans to intervene formally or to mobilize additional public testimony. The North Carolina Justice Center and the Sierra Club’s North Carolina chapter, both frequent participants in Duke Energy rate proceedings, have raised concerns about affordability and the pace of the utility’s clean energy transition. The formal list of intervenors and the substance of their arguments will sharpen as the case moves into its evidentiary phase over the coming months.
The degree to which organized opposition influences the outcome will hinge on the technical rigor of the alternative analyses intervenors present. In past proceedings, detailed counter-proposals on depreciation, cost allocation, and rate design have carried more weight with commissioners than volume of public comment alone.
What ratepayers can do before the commission rules
A final order is likely months away, but customers still have avenues to participate. Anyone in Duke Energy Carolinas’ service territory can submit written comments referencing Docket E-7 Sub 1329 directly to the NCUC. Those statements become part of the public file and give commissioners additional perspective on how the proposed changes would affect real household and business budgets.
Comments that focus on concrete impacts tend to resonate most with regulators: the share of income a family spends on electricity, the specific trade-offs a retiree on Social Security would face, or the margin pressure a small business would absorb. Customers preparing to write may want to review at least the executive summary of Duke Energy’s filing, which outlines the utility’s rationale and projected bill impacts for different customer classes.
The NCUC’s hearings calendar will list any additional public sessions as they are scheduled. As of early May 2026, the Morganton and Charlotte hearings have set the tone for a proceeding that will determine what 2.9 million customers pay for electricity in the years ahead. The record is open, and the commission is listening.
