by Sue Sturgis
Date on which two environmental advocacy groups, NC WARN and Friends of the Earth, filed a petition for rulemaking with the North Carolina Utilities Commission calling for it to block monopoly electric utility Duke Energy from spending its captive customers’ money to buy political influence: 11/14/2018
Amount the groups say the investor-owned company, headquartered in Charlotte, spends annually in the Carolinas to shape public opinion and policy through “lobbying funds, political contributions, civic and academic contributions, and advertising expenses”: more than $80 million
Year in which a study found that unfettered political spending by regulated utilities like Duke Energy can impede the transition to clean energy: 2017
Constitutional amendment that the petition says Duke Energy violates by using captive customers’ bill payments to promote political speech with which those customers don’t necessarily agree: 1st
