The NC Clean Path 2025 plan cannot be fully implemented in the timeframe needed to address the climate crisis without changes to certain legislation, regulations and utility policies.
Local governments and Clean Path 2025 action teams can help by pushing to remove the obstacles below.
Duke Energy:
- refuses to offer on-bill financing of solar and energy efficiency upgrades
- has proposed a grossly inadequate community solar program to the Utilities Commission
- will soon propose to the Utilities Commission revised net metering rules that will likely make rooftop solar much less economically feasible for homeowners and businesses
- continues to plan for expanded use of fracked gas, including 50-some gas-burning power plant units in the Carolinas
- disincentivizes cities from switching streetlights to LEDs
NC General Assembly:
- has banned third-party power-purchase agreements for solar (and other generation)
- lags behind other states by not yet passing enabling legislation for CCA (Community Choice Aggregation) or PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy); see general info on PACE and an update on efforts to pass NC PACE legislation
- placed caps and expiration dates on solar programs adopted in 2017 in HB589 (the “Competitive Energy Solutions for NC” law)
- provided in HB589 for a community solar program that did not ensure community ownership, low-income accessibility or guaranteed savings
NC Utilities Commission:
- refuses to hold evidentiary hearings on Duke Energy’s 15-year Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)
- refused to allow Clean Path 2025 to be submitted into evidence in the 2017 IRP docket
- fails to adequately protect the public interest (as required by law) in dockets involving Duke Energy
- fails to insist that Duke Energy explore all alternatives and propose lowest-cost generation (including storage)
- allows Duke Energy to keep building gas-fired power plants despite the fact that Duke maintains excess generation capacity that far exceeds legal and regulatory standards