State approves Duke Power rates hike

[Ja Rhule]

 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — 

On Tuesday night, Eyewitness News learned that state regulators approved a 4.5 percent rate increase for Duke Energy.

Duke Energy customers on Tuesday night said a $100 and more is simply too much to pay for their monthly power bill, but Eyewitness News learned that customers all across North Carolina can soon expect to pay even more.

On Tuesday night, the North Carolina Utilities Commission approved a $200 million increased to Duke Energy Rates.

Starting this month, the power bills will increase by 4.5 percent, but after two years it will go up 5.1 percent.

That means, the current average bill of $102 a month will go up to $110.

Residents Eyewitness News spoke with said that is simply more than they can afford.

"I mean that's a lot I understand they want to kind of keep things going, upgraded, but it seems like a lot to push on to us," said one Charlotte resident.

"There's no way I'm going to be able to afford that with car payments and everything else," said another Charlotte resident.

 

 

 

 

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/duke-energy-approves-45-rate-increase/nZ6kd/

 

 

 

What else is new?

 

[KillerKat]

going to have to run off a generator

[Anybodyhome]

Big money government approving big money business to take another step toward killing the middle class.

[Ja Rhule]

It's about $10 extra a month and don't seems much buts it's $120 a year which is very material. Also, businesses will have to increase prices to cover the increase and it will trickle down to us.

Sad part is 3rd party research showed that 4.5% increase is way more than Duke Power needs to cover capital investments... One of the big driving forces behind increase was Pat Mcrory and it just happened he owns large amount of Duke Energy stock. What a shocker...

[Zaximus]

Didn't our Governor used to work with Duke Energy in some fashion?  I knew this would pass the moment he got elected (but honestly, probably would have regardless).

 

I'll end up paying more than 7-8 bucks a month for this, unfortunately.

[4Corners]

McCrory was a Duke Power executive before his political career

[cookinwithgas]

We (Duke) just retired a plant this past year that's been running since the 1930s. We have critical upgrade needs and operational costs involving a couple of bad luck/bad decision issues as well. Add to that decreased demand, more power from alternate sources, etc...power is expensive until you can't get it then it seems cheap

[Ja Rhule]

We (Duke) just retired a plant this past year that's been running since the 1930s. We have critical upgrade needs and operational costs involving a couple of bad luck/bad decision issues as well. Add to that decreased demand, more power from alternate sources, etc...power is expensive until you can't get it then it seems cheap

So Duke power needs extra billions of dollars because of their bad decisions? And middle class will pay for it. Yea, makes sense...

[Panthro]

We (Duke) just retired a plant this past year that's been running since the 1930s. We have critical upgrade needs and operational costs involving a couple of bad luck/bad decision issues as well. Add to that decreased demand, more power from alternate sources, etc...power is expensive until you can't get it then it seems cheap

 

Well then I am going to switch over to your competitor.....damn

[Jase]

thanks to energy efficiency improvements I've made to my house, this will only affect me by about $75-80 per year.

 

Suck it, duke.  When I put up solar panels in a couple of years, you'll be paying me.

[cookinwithgas]

That's the kind of stuff we also have to plan for...and good job ignoring the stuff other than the "bad decisions" - the main one, Crystal River, was due to the owner trying in part to keep costs down for customers so there you go

[cookinwithgas]

When customers get more self generation they will still want power when it's dark, cloudy, no wind, etc but not understand that it's less efficient for us to ramp up and down wildly instead of more controlled and predictable use cycles therefore more expensive

[Anybodyhome]

If I had a car since 1930 that I knew I was going to have to replace at some point, I have to make financial decisions to prepare for the replacement.

 

While Duke Power had three years of decreased earnings from 2007-2009, the fact remains that 2011 earnings are well in excess of 25% over 2007, so they've more than made up for those 3 down years.

 

The reality of utility companies is they are incredible investments for anyone. One of the reasons they are such a good investment is because they are very good at convincing state utility commissions they are in need. Always in need. To the layperson like myself, the common occurrence of utility rate hike requests in the news simply tells me they either suck at money management or they're full of poo. The latter obviously being the truth. 

 

In this economy, any company that can post double-digit earnings increases is doing very well. But to then say it's not enough and they need more in the form of rate hikes is crap; to make up for things like an 80-year old power generation facility that the company should have planned for 40 years ago.

 

Duke Power $1.8B profit in 2011 paid no federal income taxes in 2012 and actually received a $46M rebate.

http://obsearthenergy.blogspot.com/2013/04/duke-energy-paid-no-federal-income.html

 

 

But they need another 4.5% rate hike.

 

 

[Squirrel]

Cool more new shiny trucks.