Duke Energy deals double whammy to its poorest North Carolina customers

For the better part of the year, Duke Energy’s bid to jack up electric rates in North Carolina has been hotly contested by politicians, consumer advocates, and the public at large. Under the utility’s latest proposal before state regulators, the average Duke residential customer could pay about $10 more on their monthly bill come January.

But some of North Carolina’s poorest families are poised to pay much more.

Since early 2024, Duke’s Customer Assistance Program has provided a $42 monthly bill credit to help keep the lights on for tens of thousands of low-income residents. But the three-year trial program is set to expire Dec. 31, and no replacement is on the horizon.

Customers enrolled in the program typically get the credit for at least 12 months. But those who began receiving the benefit in 2026 aren’t slated for a full year of relief, and are set to see their bills spike in January, Duke confirmed.

Aid organizations and advocates for these consumers say the program’s demise is terribly timed — as households already face stubborn inflation, volatile gas prices, and fraying federal government safety nets.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission could, unbidden, order Duke to continue the program. But advocates say regulators are far more likely to do so if the company asks.

“Duke should request to make this a permanent program,” said Claire Williamson, senior energy policy advocate at the North Carolina Justice Center. ​“This is not the time for Duke to pull the rug out beneath 80,000 customers.”

Seamless benefit for energy-burdened households

The Customer Assistance Program was designed by Duke and advocates, and approved by regulators, to lessen the blow of the utility’s last rate increase. The company automatically provides the credit to any customer who has enrolled in one of two federal programs: the Low-Income Energy Assistance Program, which provides one-time payments toward heating bills, or the Crisis Intervention Program, which offers aid to prevent utility shutoffs.

The federal initiatives are administered in the state by North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services, which verifies that the households served earn at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, or about $50,000 for a family of four. The agency shares the data with Duke, which then begins crediting its customers.

The process is so seamless — and electric bills so substantial, running $300 or more in extreme cases — that some don’t even realize they’re getting the monthly benefit of $42. But the yearlong support is vital for qualified households, advocates for low-income consumers say.

Duke also refers every participant to internal programs and outside organizations that perform free energy-efficiency upgrades, such as adding insulation, sealing leaks around windows and doors, and replacing old heating and cooling equipment. These weatherization services can cut monthly bills in half, or more, while helping reduce energy demand.

Duke has made limited information about the program public, but a document from May obtained by Canary Media shows its impact in snapshots of time. In March, for instance, over 82,000 customers were receiving the bill credit. That same month, hundreds of those households also received weatherization help like that provided by Energy Savers Network, an Asheville area nonprofit that gets referrals from Duke.

A rare, metric-filled Duke report from this winter that wasn’t made confidential suggests the assistance program even provides some financial benefit to the company by curbing uncollectable debts, called ​“charge-offs,” and past-due bill amounts. To a lesser degree, assistance also helped reduce utility disconnections.

The program’s proponents say there are plenty of ways to tweak it to help it reach more households in need, save more customers from electric shutoffs, and reduce energy burdens. They believe an improved assistance regime should become a permanent offering.

But Duke has made no moves in that direction.

An uncertain future

Duke has faced an intense public and political backlash since last fall, when it proposed a residential rate hike of 18% spread over two years. In a series of side agreements with the state-sanctioned customer advocate and others, it is now asking for an increase of about 9.5% over the same time frame; Gov. Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson, both Democrats, say that figure is still too steep. In the settlement agreements, Duke shareholders have also pledged to contribute $20 million for bill aid and home fixes — such as roof repairs — that often precede weatherization.

The Customer Assistance Program is nowhere in these side deals, however. And while it has surfaced in the rate case, Duke hasn’t asked the North Carolina Utilities Commission to make it everlasting.

Asked if the company has plans to change that — and if not, why — spokesperson Caroline Fountain didn’t answer directly. But she said in an email that ​“any decision regarding [the Customer Assistance Program’s] future ultimately rests with the Commission.”

Fountain also suggested that for all the residential, commercial, and industrial customers who help pay for the program with pennies on their bill each month, the financial benefits may not outweigh its costs.

“The Commission approved the program as a pilot which allowed for the assessment of whether the costs borne by all customers would be offset by savings from outcomes like reduced disconnections for non-payment,” she said.

But Williamson said the assistance plan’s upsides go far beyond that narrow cost-benefit standard.

“We have to have programs that address the chronic unaffordability of rates,” since electricity is a basic need, just like healthcare, she said. ​“Electricity is part of healthcare. It affects your sleep and your well-being.”