Residential customers of Duke Energy Progress in eastern North Carolina and the Asheville area would pay about $9.62 more a month starting January 1, 2027, if the North Carolina Utilities Commission approves a settlement announced in August. Attorney General Jeff Jackson has refused to sign it. The commission has not issued a ruling.
What the August settlement would add to a monthly bill
WRAL reports that a typical household using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month would see its bill rise about $9.62 a month beginning Jan. 1, 2027, and another $5.89 a month in 2028. Those numbers describe a proposed schedule, not rates in effect today.
Across the whole residential class, the deal would raise rates about 6.8% over two years, according to the North Carolina Department of Justice. Duke Energy Progress first asked for 18.1%. WRAL puts the settlement average at 3.4% a year for two years.
The dollar change depends on usage. A household drawing more than 1,000 kilowatt-hours in a cold month would see a bigger increase than the example, and a lighter user a smaller one. The percentage figures describe the residential class as a whole, not any single bill.
Duke Energy Progress reached the agreement with the Public Staff, which represents consumers in rate cases, and other parties. The attorney general’s office says Duke shareholders would also contribute $10 million to help customers pay bills and weatherize homes.
Anyone served by Duke Energy Progress, including households around Asheville, is therefore watching a decision rather than a charge. The commission can approve, modify or reject the deal, and rates stay where they are until it acts. A modified order would change the $9.62 figure.
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Evidentiary hearings before the commission began the week of August 11, WRAL reported. No decision date has been announced, and the Department of Justice release gives none, so the January 1 start depends on an order that has not been issued.
Why the attorney general would not sign
Jackson announced his position on August 12. “Duke brought down their rate increase to 6.8%, but that’s still too high for families,” he said. “We’re not signing it.” The commission, not the attorney general, decides whether the settlement takes effect.
He took the same stand in July on the separate Duke Energy Carolinas settlement, which he declined to sign because residential rates would still rise about 9.5%. Jackson has argued for a separate rate class for large energy users such as data centers.
Duke Energy Progress agreed to join the Carolinas fast-track process for rules covering data centers and other large energy users, the release says. Jackson also wants Duke to make its commitments under the federal Ratepayer Protection Pledge legally binding before the commission.
Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president, said the company responded to stakeholders and to the everyday cost pressures facing customers. Duke has also said the higher summer bills many customers saw came mainly from heavy air conditioning use during a long heat wave, not from the pending increase.
Bowman gave the 6.8% figure in testimony before the commission, the attorney general’s release says. The settlement cuts the original request by more than half, WRAL reports, though the attorney general says the result is still too high.
Jeremy Ratcliff, a regional field organizer for the advocacy group PowerUp NC, framed the objection around household budgets. He said people should not have to decide whether to run an air conditioner during extreme heat.
Heating-bill help that already exists in North Carolina
North Carolina’s Low-Income Energy Assistance Program, known as LIEAP, makes a one-time payment to the heating vendor for eligible households. Income must fall within 130% of the federal poverty level, and the household must be responsible for its own heating costs.
Households with someone 60 or older, or a disabled person receiving services through the state Division of Aging and Adult Services, can apply December 1 through 31. Everyone else applies January 1 through March 31, or until funds run out. Applications go through the ePASS portal, the county social services office or 1-800-662-7030.
A separate Crisis Intervention Program serves households that are in, or close to, a heating or cooling crisis, the state health department says. Eligibility varies by program, and county social services offices take applications for both.
LIEAP pays the household’s heating vendor, so the program is not tied to any one utility. Customers of Duke Energy Progress apply through the same county office as everyone else in the state.
The $10 million from Duke shareholders is a different pot. The attorney general’s release says it would go toward bill help and weatherization, but the money exists only if the settlement stands, and the release gives no application details.
For now, the planning number is the settlement’s own: about $9.62 more a month in January 2027, and roughly $15.51 more a month once the 2028 step of $5.89 arrives, for a 1,000 kWh household. The commission’s order, not the settlement, will set the final figure.
Planning around a $9.62 January increase that regulators have not yet approved?
If the settlement stands, the first increase lands in January, just as heating season peaks, and the LIEAP window for households with someone 60 or older closes at the end of December. Missing it means waiting for the general window in January.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit walks through heating, cooling and home-repair help, and its application log and renewal calendar keeps each program’s dates in one place. Part 5, Utilities and Home Costs, covers the bill side of staying in a house.
Get the home-cost relief kit with the application log and renewal calendar →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
