GREENVILLE — Upstate electric customers could see a much smaller increase in their monthly bills next March, if state regulators approve a settlement on Duke Energy’s proposed rate hike in July.
Residential customers using 1,000 kilowatt hours per month would see their bill increase initially by 84 cents per month, from $136.82 to $137.66 starting March 1. In two years, that bill would then increase by $4.21 per additional month to $141.87.
Duke Energy Carolinas, the publicly traded company’s Charlotte-based subsidiary, said the rate increase is primarily needed to cover the costs of grid reliability and resiliency improvements the company has made to the transmission and distribution systems, as well as the increased cost of capital needed to finance those improvements.
The increase — although it comes as the cost of living continues to climb — is far less than the initial hike proposed by Duke, which serves 680,000 customers across the Upstate. This proposal would have represented an increase of $10.38 to $147.19 on a household’s monthly 1,000 kWh bill.
Overall, Duke’s annual revenue increase will be $74.2 million, instead of the $150.5 million initially proposed, according to the agreement.
The partial settlement, which was filed Nov. 11 with the S.C. Public Service Commission, was reached by Duke and a large number of co-intervenors, including environmental, consumer and small business groups, corporations and state agencies charged with representing the public interest.
Its stipulations are similar to a settlement proposed in October for a rate case involving Duke Energy Progress, the subsidiary that serves the Pee Dee region of the state.
“This settlement includes exciting and critical provisions to help South Carolinians in a time of high costs of living,” said Kate Mixson, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represented some of the environmental groups in the case. “As a result, customers will be able to better control their bills and reduce network costs through energy efficiency and clean energy programs. »
These provisions would require Duke to engage in future PSC proceedings to consider how to protect residents from potential future costs related to growing energy needs, which are primarily driven by data centers and other “high load” users. There are other provisions aimed at improving energy efficiency, including weatherization and solar and battery programs.
Two sources of credits will help partially offset the increase in Duke customers’ bills, said Ryan Mosier, a Duke Energy spokesman.
That includes a two-year fixed return of $100 million in federal tax credits expected to be provided to Duke for energy production from renewable sources like solar, nuclear and hydroelectric power, as well as an annual shareholder fund contribution of $750,000 over two years.
“If approved, this agreement will allow us to keep pace with the needs of a growing state, rather than falling behind, so we can continue to support reliability and long-term economic growth for the communities we serve,” Mosier said.
This increase, however, comes at a time when the cost of living has reached unprecedented heights in South Carolina.
When utilities and regulators raise their rates – as is the case with price increases in general – these changes are felt most by low-income households and those on fixed incomes.
Rising energy costs are not unique to Upstate, Duke or South Carolina. But the Palmetto State is where electric bills are expected to rise the most, except one, over the next decade. This is due in part to a sweeping federal law that removed clean energy incentives, which were supposed to help lower electricity costs.
Duke’s proposed rate increase follows an August 2024 rate increase approved by the PSC, the company’s first in five years. This increase would have been larger, but it was split into two increases to stagger the rise in prices for households. The second element will come into force on August 1, 2026.
