After hundreds of people attended public meetings to express their anger about a requested Duke Energy rate increase, and after regulators slammed the utility and its overpaid executives as “tone deaf,” Duke is still raising energy rates – although the increase is considerably lower than was requested.
The rate increase went into effect this past Saturday.
Duke Energy’s original request last year was for a $231 million rate increase.
That increase would have affected more than half a million customers in the Upstate with a 238% increase in a basic facilities charge.
After much outrage and backlash, the Commission approved an average rate increase of 3.7% for all residential customers.
Commercial and industrial customers will see an average increase of about 1.6%.
A typical residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity monthly will now pay about $122.45 per month, an increase of about $4.71.
