In both rate cases, North Carolina customers are forced to pay coal ash and nuclear expenses – plus a 10 percent profit
Shameful as it is that the NC Utilities Commission last month ordered customers to pay hundreds of millions for Duke Energy’s coal ash negligence in the Duke-Progress rate case…
…and that, in doing so, those regulators defied all other parties, including Attorney General Josh Stein’s office…
…and that those regulators will likely do the same in the Duke-Carolinas rate case that’s nearing completion…
…and shameful as it is that Duke is also trying to force its Carolinas customers to pay nearly $600 million for its 13-year, failed effort to even begin construction of twin nuclear reactors – a project now cancelled, thankfully…
what’s even more shameful is that the Commission granted Duke a 10 percent mark-up on coal ash in the Progress case and that Duke’s seeking the same for coal ash and the nuclear boondoggle in the Carolinas case.
In other words, not only do monopoly-captive customers get stuck reimbursing the actual expenses caused by massive mistakes Duke executives made (and bearing all the pain being inflicted by coal ash), but Duke Energy also gets to make a hefty profit on those coal ash and nuclear debacles.
This profiting from major, predictable failures is directly linked to NC WARN’s key focus in the rate case: the $80 million-plus in influence money that Duke Energy invests each year – using customer money – to control and contort public officials, civic leaders and public opinion. Duke responded by threatening a libel suit, a threat that will not silence us.
The big question is whether the regulators will also go along with another massive boondoggle, Duke Energy’s proposed, multi-billion dollar “grid modernization” that would do little modernizing, but would spend some seven billion NC customer dollars over the next ten years, raising rates another 25 percent – just what investors want to see. Duke wants to break longstanding precedent by creating a virtually automatic annual collection without going through an open, thorough rate case.
Additional rate hikes will come in the form of the “multiple rate cases” in the works, as CEO Lynn Good told happy investors last month, as Duke keeps building climate-wrecking, fracked gas power plants and pipelines.
The people of North Carolina should tell utilities commissioners and politicians to reject Duke Energy’s efforts to profit from its executives’ poor decisions and stand up against the corporate influence that is subverting our democracy.