… and Hands NC Ratepayers the Bill for New Plants
To avoid runaway electricity bills, the Utilities Commission and its Public Staff must hold the line against construction of power plants this state’s customers simply do not need.
Statement by NC WARN Director Jim Warren:
Durham, NC – Last week the NC Utilities Commission approved Duke’s wholesale contract with five electric cooperatives in South Carolina, all outside the power giant’s service area. Annual sales to the SC coops will grow to 1,500 megawatts – more than twice the net capacity Duke is constructing at its controversial Cliffside coal-fired plant west of Charlotte, NC.
It is more than clear that Cliffside is being built so Duke can add new customers – at reduced rates – despite Duke’s years-long insistence that Cliffside was needed to accommodate growth (which became non-existent) within its approved territory.
One must wonder if the NC Utilities Commission is willing to let Duke Energy sell electricity anywhere it wants (maybe California if it chooses?) while this state’s customers absorb the financial and health risks for new power plants.
The expanded sales also coincide with Duke’s hopes to build two nuclear reactors in northern South Carolina, for which NC customers would pay 70 percent of the extremely risky price tag.
In a disturbing pattern, the Commission again declined to conduct evidentiary hearings in the SC coop contract case.
Earlier, the Commission had effectively stifled Duke’s efforts for a far smaller contract at Orangeburg, SC. But Duke is appealing that ruling, and has admitted (under cross-examination) that it is seeking even more outside customers.
To avoid runaway electricity bills, the Utilities Commission and its Public Staff must hold the line against construction of power plants this state’s customers simply do not need.
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