Duke Energy wants to make you pay for their mistakes – and Senate Bill 266 would let them do it. 

A new bill moving through the NC General Assembly could not only eliminate our state climate goals, it could raise energy bills significantly for hard-working families. Here is what you need to know and how to take action!

Scam Increases Energy Bills

Senate bill (SB) 266 is ironically mislabeled as the “Power Bill Reduction Act.” A more accurate title would be “Duke’s Dirty Energy Scam.” Duke wants this bill because it would let them spend billions building risky new methane gas plants and experimental “small modular” nuclear reactors, and charge you for whatever they spend even if it gets canceled before it ever produces a single watt of power.

Dan Crawford, our Director of Governmental Relations, says that SB 266 “will actually increase the financial burden on ratepayers, forcing them to pay upfront for dirty methane and nuclear plants that have not yet been built. Any construction problems, delays, or cancellations will be paid for by citizens, letting Duke Energy off the hook. This is exactly what happened in South Carolina and Georgia, with ratepayers still paying the price. We do not want this legislation in our state.”

Crawford continues, “Additionally, SB 266 eliminates North Carolina’s 2030 climate goal to reduce carbon emissions by 70% of 2005 levels. If we continue to push back the deadlines on climate goals, clean energy projects get pushed to the wayside, and North Carolina falls behind in the clean energy transition.” 

Scam Increases Dirty Energy

SB 266 was bad enough in its original form. As it has made its way through the legislative review process, it has metastasized into an even more virulent form. Legislators added new sections to the bill just last week to allow Duke to add changed fuel costs to customers’ energy bills without going through the normal public review process. Overall, the bill would incentivize the construction of new dirty energy facilities at the expense of investment in clean, renewable sources such as solar and wind, while shifting Duke’s risks to ratepayers.

As the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association points out, “North Carolina has already experienced some of the highest rate increases in the country over the past year, and approving another mechanism for the utility to further collect from ratepayers outside of the normal ratemaking process could further exacerbate these rate hikes.” 

NCLCV and other clean energy and climate action advocates are fighting to defeat SB 266, the Duke Dirty Energy Scam. 

Join the fight–contact your legislators in opposition to SB 266 now!

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