Duke Energy forecasts total demand across its two Carolina systems will rise between 16% and nearly 60% through 2040.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. โ A state task force charged with addressing North Carolina’s growing energy needs released an interim report Tuesday outlining nine recommendations aimed at keeping electricity affordable and reliable as demand surges.
Gov. Josh Stein created the North Carolina Energy Policy Task Force in August 2025 to develop solutions for energy challenges driven by data centers, advanced manufacturing and population growth. The 30-member panel, co-chaired by state Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson and Rep. Kyle Hall, has met four times since September.
“As demand for energy grows, families and businesses need to be able to count on dependable, sustainable, and affordable power,” Stein said in a statement. “I’m grateful to the task force for its thoughtful work to inform policies that protect affordability, reliability, and sustainability, and I look forward to our state’s building on this progress in the months ahead.”
The state faces dramatic projected increases in electricity consumption. Duke Energy forecasts total demand across its two Carolina systems will rise between 16% and nearly 60% through 2040. By contrast, electricity demand grew just 7% from 2005 to 2025.
Meanwhile, residential electricity bills have climbed nearly 30% from 2017 to 2024, with about two-thirds of the increase attributed to rising fuel costs, particularly natural gas prices. Major utilities are projecting additional increases by 2040, with some proposing rate hikes of 16% to 18% for residential customers over the next two years alone.
The task force’s nine recommendations focus on managing large energy users like data centers, modernizing the grid and helping residential customers reduce consumption.
Key proposals include developing specialized rate structures for large-load customers to ensure they bear the costs they create, and exploring options to let such customers procure their own power capacity. The panel also recommends encouraging load flexibility, where large users reduce consumption during peak demand periods.
Other recommendations address transmission upgrades, incentives for residential energy efficiency improvements and creating an independent electricity demand forecasting process. The task force also suggests evaluating the cost of existing sales tax exemptions for data centers and requiring energy and water usage reporting from data center operators.
“Energy demand is rising rapidly in North Carolina,” Wilson said. “I appreciate the task force members’ hard work to identify potential solutions to ensure that future energy supplies are affordable, reliable, and clean, and I look forward to working with the task force to refine these interim recommendations.”
Hall acknowledged the complexity of the challenge and noted the task force did not reach unanimous consensus on all recommendations.
“While we have reached a consensus, we did not do so unanimously,” Hall said. “There are many opinions on a topic such as this, and such an outcome shouldn’t come as a surprise.”
The task force will spend the next year refining its recommendations and is scheduled to deliver a final report in February 2027.
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