The analysis is in. North Carolina’s latest high-profile energy legislation, Senate Bill 266, will cost $23 billion.
The misleadingly named “Power Bill Reduction Act,” has passed both the state House and Senate, and now awaits action from Governor Stein. In it, lawmakers overhauled state law in multiple ways to benefit North Carolina’s largest corporations while increasing utility bills for households across our state. A more accurate moniker would be the “Bill for Higher Energy Bills,” if you’re talking about utility bills for people like you and me.
New analysis posted June 30th by researchers at NC State University finds that the bill’s signature provision — removing the state’s 2030 carbon emissions reduction target — is projected to lead to a $23 billion increase in fuel costs through 2050. Based on modeling by the Utilities Commission Public Staff, the research team found that eliminating the interim target would increase natural gas generation by nearly 40 percent between 2030 and 2050. Researchers conclude maintaining the interim goal helps limit exposure to volatile fuel markets and protects ratepayers from sharp increases in electricity bills.
SB 266 has multiple provisions that work together to maximize profit, shift financial risk to customers, and leave North Carolina households holding the bag.
On a path to high fuel costs
In 2021, House Bill 951 became North Carolina law with bipartisan support, mandating a goal of 70% carbon emissions reduction by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. SB 266 would undermine that bipartisan effort by eliminating the interim 2030 carbon reduction target.
The NCSU professors confirmed that eliminating the interim carbon target will nearly double the amount of natural gas on the Duke Energy electricity grid. Natural gas is already raising our electricity bills. An analysis of Duke Energy’s filings with the NC Utilities Commision shows that in the Duke Energy Carolinas (DEC) service territory, fuel costs account for roughly 67% of the increase in residential retail rates since 2017, making the portion of the rate increases attributable to fuel costs more than double the amount from all other rate comments.
Forcing customers to prepay for power plants
Next, the bill weakens consumer protections by requiring North Carolina customers to pay up front for the interest on the construction of large natural gas power plants before they are built or operational. The financial risk for these large construction projects would be shifted from the utility shareholders onto North Carolina families and businesses.
If the construction project goes exactly as planned, paying construction costs before the project is complete spreads the costs over a longer time, lowering the rate of increase in month-to-month bills. But if the construction project goes over budget or is never completed, which they often do, ratepayers would be stuck paying all of the expenses for the project without receiving any benefit in return, while the utility shareholders still profit. This is a lesson we learned from South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, where ratepayers are now burdened with paying for power plants that were never finished or went billions over budget.
Not surprisingly, when asked in a recent poll conducted by Conservatives for Clean Energy, 85% of North Carolinians said they oppose this type of upfront customer financing model.
Shifting the cost burden from business customers onto residential customers
Not only will SB 266 lead to greater natural gas usage, but the legislation will force North Carolina households to pay a greater portion of those natural gas costs by changing the way fuel costs are allocated between the rate classes (residential, commercial, and industrial customers). This is true when looking back at 2024 data and when considering future trends.
The Public Staff referenced past fuel costs and estimated that under similar conditions, SB 266 would shift, at a minimum, $24.8 million a year of fuel costs from large commercial customers onto North Carolina households and families.
But the cost shifted onto residential customers will likely be even greater than that bare minimum. For Duke Energy Carolinas, purchased power costs nearly doubled over a three-year period, from $282 million in 2023, to $400 million in 2024, to $575 million in 2025.
Incorporating the trend of increasing power purchase costs into the model, analysts at the firm EQ Research found the cost shift from industry to households would total a projected $78 million a year. This means that each North Carolina household will pay higher bills so that a handful of large commercial customers can pay substantially less.
Deceptive messaging and the rushed legislative process
In legislative committee hearings, when asked about the impacts of the bill on utility rates, supporters of the bill deliberately misled their colleagues, saying it would reduce energy costs and help poor people struggling to pay their energy bills. Importantly, legislators were asked to vote on the bill before comprehensive analysis of the cost impacts could be reviewed or considered. Now that the NC State University analysis is available, everyone can see what a raw deal this legislation is for the people of North Carolina.
Residential customers, especially North Carolinians with low incomes, are the people who can least afford to absorb these energy cost increases. They are also the constituency least likely to have professional lobbyists watching out for their interests on Jones Street.
With the data in, we see that SB 266, the “Power Bill Reduction Act” raises bills, risks our future, and helps no one but Duke Energy and its business customers.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( NCSU analysts: Duke Energy bill lifting carbon reduction goal will cost households billions )
Also on site :