Forty-two dollars a month. That's the bill credit about 80,000 low-income Duke Energy customers in North Carolina get right now. It's scheduled to end on New Year's Eve, one day before Duke's proposed rate increases would start. Good morning. It's Monday, October twenty-sixth, and you're listening to Power Bill. We start in North Carolina, then a transmission refund for Maine that's tied up in an appeal, and a Delaware rate case where the interim rates are already on your bill.
Liz McLaughlin, reporting for WRAL in Raleigh:
Duke Energy is seeking higher rates beginning in January. At the same time, a program providing eligible customers with $42 in monthly bill credits is scheduled to end Dec. 31. About 80,000 customers are enrolled, according to Duke.
Two changes, the same households, back to back. Duke first asked for residential increases of roughly 18 percent over two years at both of its North Carolina utilities. After pushback from customers, consumer advocates and Attorney General Jeff Jackson, it cut those requests. Under the proposed settlements, Duke Energy Carolinas residential rates would rise about 9.5 percent over two years and Duke Energy Progress about 6.8 percent, in stages from January 1, 2027. These are proposals. The North Carolina Utilities Commission can approve them or change them. And Jackson didn't sign either settlement. He's asking regulators to reject them. His words: Duke does not need as much as they are asking for from ratepayers. Meanwhile Duke reported $1.077 billion in second-quarter net income, up from $971 million a year earlier. WRAL doesn't give a monthly dollar figure for the rate increase, so I won't make one up. The credit is simple math. A household that loses the full $42 has to find $504 more over a year, before any rate change. That's about 45,000 Duke Energy Carolinas customers and 35,000 at Duke Energy Progress. Duke says the program was a three-year pilot, paid for through monthly charges on customers. On what comes next, Duke says the decision rests with the commission. So nobody owns the cliff. What Duke is offering instead is $20 million in shareholder money in the settlements, for bill assistance and weatherization repairs. Advocates say that won't reach as far or last as long as a monthly credit, and it guarantees nothing to people losing the credit now. WRAL talked to Andrew Hefner, who lives on a fixed income and already added insulation and a heat pump. He uses less power and says he owes more. That's who this lands on. One caution. A second WRAL piece on Friday put the Duke Energy Progress settlement at about 9.3 percent, so check your own notice.
Delger Erdenesanaa of the Maine Monitor, in a story carried by The Maine Wire:
Of the $1.5 billion total, approximately $130 million in refunds are due to customers in Maine. The average residential customer might expect roughly $20 per month over 12 months as a result, according to Heather Sanborn, the current Maine public advocate.
This refund goes back a long way. In 2011, Maine's public advocate and other consumer advocates told federal regulators that the 11.14 percent profit allowed on New England transmission lines was too high. In March, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reaffirmed a cut to 9.57 percent and ordered the companies to pay customers back for the difference by May 2027. Fifteen years to get an order. Then in June, Central Maine Power, Versant and the other New England transmission owners appealed it. So the money is ordered, and it's also in court. Versant did file a refund plan last month, and it's waiting for federal approval. Its spokesperson says that plan only covers Bangor Hydro District transmission customers, not Maine Public District. Central Maine Power declined to comment. And Sanborn says she needs more from the companies for a precise figure, so twenty dollars a month is a rough estimate. There's a second fight. Utilities used to get a half-point bonus on their return for joining the regional grid operator, ISO New England, voluntarily. A 2025 Maine law made joining mandatory, so three state agencies asked federal regulators to drop what they called an outdated financial perk. Advocates put that at more than $2 million a year. Central Maine Power and the Maine Electric Power Company sued the three agency heads to get the law thrown out. The companies argue Maine is reaching into rates that only federal regulators can set, and that the law was passed for one reason only. Versant isn't opposing the state's request. For scale, the public advocate's office says the average Central Maine Power bill went from $91 in October 2020 to $157 this October. Transmission is the smallest driver of that. Natural gas prices on the supply side are the biggest.
George D. Rotsch, writing for Delaware LIVE:
The proposal would increase the utility’s distribution base rates by 21.7%, although that does not mean customers’ total electric bills would rise by that percentage.
The proposal is Delmarva Power's request for $67.8 million more a year. While the Delaware Public Service Commission reviews it, Delmarva has been charging temporary higher distribution rates since July 9. The final decision sets the permanent number, and the interim rates can be adjusted. So it's partly here already. And it's on top of the supply increase from June 1, which Delmarva estimates added $14.64 a month to the average home bill. That's about $176 a year. For a typical customer using 811 kilowatt-hours, the whole bill went up about 9 percent. Here's the number I couldn't find. The story doesn't turn the $67.8 million into a monthly figure for a household, and it doesn't give a residential customer count I could divide by. That's what to look for in the filing, docket 25-1555. And it matters, because this is the part Delaware actually controls. The commission can't set regional wholesale prices, but it does decide which distribution costs customers should pay. Make the utility prove every dollar. The commission is taking written comments through Wednesday, November 4. You can file through the state's DelaFile system or email the commission, and include the docket number.
If you've ever wondered who is ordering all those new power plants and transmission lines, we have a sister show for that. The Data Center Daily is a daily briefing on AI compute: hyperscaler capex, the power grid, semiconductor supply, and energy markets reshaped by intelligence at scale. Find it right next to us in the app.
Dates to keep: Delaware comments close November 4. Duke's credit runs through December 31, and the proposed North Carolina increases would start January 1 if regulators approve them. Maine's refund depends on the appeal and on federal approval of the refund plans. Thanks for listening to Power Bill, from Lantern Podcasts. We're back tomorrow, Tuesday, October twenty-seventh.