NEW HANOVER COUNTY — More than 20 residents gathered at the New Hanover County Courthouse to express concerns about the priorities and costs of Duke Energy’s proposed carbon reduction plan.
READ MORE: Duke Energy proposes 18.7% rate hike over 3 years, public welcome to speak at hearing
A public hearing was held Monday regarding Duke Energy’s carbon reduction roadmap, a plan it’s been working on since 2022.
Most residents and ratepayers who spoke argued Duke’s proposal should include more renewable energy infrastructure to address climate change, stop new natural gas projects, and put less focus on profits to reduce rate hikes for customers.
Chris Carmody, executive director for Carolinas Clean Energy Business Alliance, said there is a common misconception that Duke’s planned investments in renewables have caused recent rate hikes. He argued HB 951 — the 2021 state law mandating the carbon plan — has not yet increased infrastructure costs.
“I’ve seen people, even in industry, say ‘Oh well, it’s because of HB 951 that these rates are going up’,” Carmody told Port City Daily. “It’s not, it’s purely due to gas, because 951 hasn’t really started yet.”
HB 951 requires electric public utilities to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and reduce carbon dioxide emissions from 2005 levels by 2030, but residents at Monday’s hearing argued Duke’s current proposal would fail to meet those goals.
“I strongly urge the commission to oppose the conversion to natural gas,” Wilmington resident Julia Johnson said at the hearing. “This will likely result in an increase in energy rates and increased air pollution, which is highly detrimental to human health and the environment.”
The North Carolina Utilities Commission adopted an initial plan in December 2022, which directed facilities owned or operated by Duke Energy Carolinas LLC and Duke Energy Progress LLC to increase solar and battery storage production and retire coal by 2035. HB 951 directs the commission to review the plan every two years.
Duke submitted its initial updated plan in August 2023, but revised it in January 2024 after finding recent economic development would increase annual electricity demand over previous estimates by 22% in 2030 and 25% in 2035.
The near-term action plan includes:
- Increasing solar energy by 6,460 megawatts by 2031
- Increasing battery storage by 2,700 MW by 2031
- Expanding hydroelectric storage by 1,834 MW by 2034
- Adding 600 MW of advanced nuclear power by 2035
Duke will perform feasibility studies to create an offshore wind farm off the Brunswick County coast and hopes to generate 2,400 MW of wind energy by 2035.
But the carbon plan’s goals include 8,925 MW in new natural gas production, a major source of contention Monday. It includes an additional 6,800 MW from combustion cycle power plants by 2023 and 2,125 MW in combustion turbine gas by 2031.
Under the state statute, the NC Utilities Commission must receive feedback on Duke’s proposal in public hearings before making a final decision in late 2024 to approve, amend, or reject it. Commissioners Charlotte Mitchell and Floyd McKissick Jr. attended Monday’s hearing, the fourth of five public witness meetings this month.
Speakers argued renewables have more long-term financial feasibility than new fossil fuel projects, citing costs of coastal insurance rates and environmental degradation.
“In September 2022 my home insurance was $1,261,” Wilmington resident Sean Mulligan said at the hearing. “One year later, the reported price had gone to $3,203. I live in a perfectly normal house — it’s not a flood zone.”
In February, Attorney General Josh Stein appealed the utility commission’s approval of Duke’s most recent three-year rate hike. It began with a 7.7% increase in January followed by two 3% increases in 2025 and 2026, which Stein argued would excessively burden customers and appealed for Supreme Court review.
“Poverty is not a crime,” Robeson County resident Amy Woods said at the hearing. “Raising people’s utilities beyond the income of the people that live there should be a crime.”
Carmody similarly told Port City Daily he believed technological improvements and federal incentives make solar a more affordable investment than natural gas. He argued trends of the clean energy transition will steadily continue to decrease renewable costs, while fossil fuels are subject to volatile price fluctuations.
He cited a 2023 study by financial…
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