If approved, a typical residential customer would see an initial increase of about $28 per month beginning in 2027, followed by an additional $6-$7 hike.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. โ Demonstrators gathered outside Duke Energy’s uptown Charlotte headquarters on Friday, calling on the utility to withdraw a proposal that could raise electricity bills by up to 18% across the Carolinas.
The protests coincided with May Day, a national day supporting labor rights, but organizers said the local focus was on affordability.
“You’re going to add a price increase on utilities on top of that, it’s going to put this community, these people, their customer base, really, in a tough spot,” Tony Siracusa with Indivisible CLT said.
Protesters argued the cost of living in Charlotte is already too high and that a double-digit rate increase would push basic needs out of reach for many residents.
“And they want to raise our rates in the double digits?” Salem Macknee questioned.
If approved, a typical residential customer would see an initial increase of about $28 per month beginning in 2027, followed by an additional $6 to $7 hike the following year.
Duke Energy says the increase is necessary to keep up with growing demand. In the past two years alone, more than 150,000 new customers have moved into North Carolina.
“To help modernize technology that helped avoid 1.2 million customer outages last year โ we saw more people move, which required more 15,000 new poles and more than 4,000 miles of wire,” Caroline Fountain, a Duke Energy spokesperson, said. “Those costs add up to be able to serve our customers.”
Separately, Duke is requesting another rate increase to recover about $800 million in power costs following the extreme cold earlier this year. Both requests still require approval from the state utilities commission.ย
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