The fight against corporate greed continues as Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson rejects the newest Duke Energy rate deal. Duke Energy Carolinas, North Carolina’s newest utility company, and stakeholders have reached an agreement to raise residential rates by 9.5%, nearly half of their previous rate request of 18%. However, Attorney General Jeff Jackson is not settling for this settlement.
“Duke started this case asking families for an 18% increase. We pushed back, and now its own filing shows 9.5%; that is movement in the right direction, but it is still too high. We are not joining this deal, and we will keep pushing for lower rates,” said AG Jeff Jackson.
According to their annual financial report, Duke Energy earned nearly $5 billion in revenue in 2025. Despite this, the company is still requesting rate hikes, putting another financial burden on North Carolinians facing rising costs of living.
To add insult to injury, Duke Energy is invested in the production of data centers that are on the rise in our state. Data centers increase harmful carbon dioxide emissions and will raise electricity costs by an average of 6%-29%. Data centers also rely heavily on electricity to power large buildings.
Recent surveys have found that over 44% of North Carolinians oppose a data center being constructed in their area.
“Data centers will require a huge amount of investment in transmission lines and other infrastructure, and I think it’s wrong that homeowners will be bearing that burden,” Sawyer said. “We will not be reaping the profits from those data centers, so we shouldn’t be subsidizing those data centers,” said AG Jeff Jackson.
Attorney General Jeff Jackson will continue to argue for a lower rate increase before the decision is in the hands of the NC Utilities Commission. If the settlement is signed, any new rates will go into effect on January 1, 2027.
