Duke is making a lot of noise in its attempt to divert attention from the massive cost exposure potential related to the alternative rate mechanism proposal by focusing attention on the securitization section of SB559. Parkdale’s opposition is with Duke’s proposed multi-year ratemaking and return-on-equity banding, which will result in enormous rate hikes on all North Carolinians and businesses.
Duke/Kochs' Control of Government
Duke Energy and others in the energy industry consistently use deceptive public relations – and millions of customer dollars – to distort the debate over important decisions. Duke’s control over NC state government is significant. We must face this “inconvenient truth” in order to make the shift to clean, safe energy. This corporate influence has, in the words of Dr. James Hansen, wounded our democracy.
Particularly egregious are efforts by Duke, the Koch brothers and other industry powers to slow the growth of solar energy and, in North Carolina, to prevent competition from third-party providers of no-upfront-cost solar deals that put solar energy within reach of many more homeowners and businesses. Another good example of corporate power is the passage in some states of Construction Work in Progress laws that allow utilities to charge customers in advance for building expensive new plants that aren’t even needed.
In 2015, Duke Energy, the Koch Brothers and others successfully kept the Energy Freedom bill bottled up in committee at the NC legislature. The bill would have opened up NC to third-party solar deals. Read about our 2015 Duke Hates Solar campaign in support of the bill.
Read about our Solar Freedom project at Faith Community Church in Greensboro — a test case in the state’s ban on third-party sales of electricity.
Direct Appeals for Dialogue with Duke Energy
NC WARN has repeatedly reached out to Duke Energy executives, seeking to collaborate with them on moving away from obstructionism and toward a clean energy future. A few examples are listed here.
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N.C. regulators ignore calls for more hearings on Duke’s long-range plans — Energy News Network
The move was a blow to clean energy groups and more than a dozen Democratic state legislators who wanted more public meetings and an expert witness hearing over Duke’s plan, which calls for deriving 8% of electricity from renewable sources while building a raft of new fossil gas plants and keeping many of its coal plants running past 2033.
SENATE BILL 559 — News & Observer
Duke Energy’s power play could cost NC consumers – News & Observer by Industry Leader
N.C. should block this Duke Energy power grab — Former VA Attorney General
Ethics complaint filed against NC senator over Duke Energy-backed bill — Charlotte Business Journal
By John Downey NC WARN has filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Dan Blue, D-Wake, contending there is a conflict of interest between his sponsorship of legislation about utility regulation and his law firm’s work for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The complaint, filed Wednesday morning with the N.C. Ethics Commission, raises …
Complaint filed over Wake lawmaker’s Duke Energy bill, his law firm’s pipeline work — WRAL
Democrat Dan Blue should address his conflict of interest with Duke Energy — News & Observer
[NC WARN] says Blue, a Wake County Democrat and the Senate minority leader, has a glaring conflict of interest. He is the lead sponsor of legislation, Senate Bill 559, that would change the state’s utility commission’s rate-setting structure even as Blue’s law firm — which includes his two sons — is representing a holding company tied to Duke Energy in eminent domain cases related to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.