No Deal: Attorney General Jackson Won’t Sign Duke Energy Settlement That Raises Families’ Bills About 9.5%

Duke makes concessions toward lower rates and data-center protections, but proposed 9.5% residential increase remains too high

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
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RALEIGH - Attorney General Jeff Jackson will not join the proposed settlement in the Duke Energy Carolinas rate case.

Download Attorney General Jackson's video here.

The proposal moves toward positions the Attorney General's Office and others advanced on rates and data center costs, but residential rates would still rise an average of approximately 9.5%.

"Duke started this case asking families for an 18% increase. We pushed back, and now its own filing shows 9.5%," said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. "That is movement in the right direction, but it is still too high. We are not joining this deal, and we will keep pushing for lower rates."

Duke claims that the settlement would result in an average annual increase of 3.7% over two years, or about 7.4% in all. However, that rate appears to be an average of all rate classes, including industrial customers. Duke's own settlement filings this week appear to show that residential ratepayers will actually end up paying closer to 9.5%.

In the proposed settlement with the Public Staff and other parties, Duke came closer to positions Attorney General Jackson and others have argued for in the ongoing rate case.

• In addition to lowering the rate, Duke agreed to lower its return on equity, the profit rate it is allowed to earn, from its original request of 10.95% to 9.8%. That is still above the 7.4% supported by the Attorney General's expert testimony, which would have saved Duke's customers $1.37 billion over the next two years.
• Duke has agreed to participate in a fast-track process to establish new rules for data centers and other large energy users. Attorney General Jackson and others argued that a process like this was necessary to protect North Carolina households from paying for the costs created by data centers and other large energy users. "We need these protections to make sure the costs of serving new data centers do not shift onto families," said Attorney General Jackson. "This proposal moves in that direction, but the details will determine whether families are actually protected." The Attorney General's Office will participate in the separate proceeding and press for rules that require data centers and other large users to bear the costs of the new power plants, transmission lines, and other infrastructure needed to serve them.
• Duke's shareholders will pay $10 million into two programs that assist North Carolinians struggling to pay their bill and help them to weatherize their homes to lower energy costs.

These concessions come after Duke lowered its proposed increase for residential customers from 18% to 11.6% after Attorney General Jackson and others filed objections to the original request.

The Commission will now decide whether to approve or reject the proposed settlement. If approved as filed, new rates would begin taking effect on January 1, 2027.

More on this case here and here.

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