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Duke Energy shared its 2025 financial results, reporting nearly $5 billion in net income.
The report comes as many customers say their recent bills are significantly higher than normal.
“Mine doubled, not sure why,” one viewer wrote on Facebook, followed by another who called her bill “outrageous.”
When asked why people are seeing a steep increase, Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton said the recent cold snap is to blame.
“Prolonged below-normal temperatures pushed home energy use higher across the Carolinas – and higher use can mean higher bills,” Norton said.
Meanwhile, Will Scott with the Environmental Defense Fund said the increase has a lot to do with The Power Bill Reduction Act, passed over Gov. Josh Stein’s veto last year.
“We did an analysis that showed that this was going to increase bills for residential households in North Carolina, exactly at times like this,” says Scott.
In November, Duke Energy proposed a 15% rate hike that would cost customers on average $20 to $30 more per month.
“Targeted investments will harden the grid against storms and upgrade existing power plants to maximize efficiency, saving customers money,” the company wrote in a news release announcing the proposal.
Norton also pointed to the company’s proposed merging of its Carolinas utilities as a way to save customers more than $1 billion in future costs.
Scott believes that to truly protect customers, utilities need to build more energy resources and lawmakers and regulators need to put more pressure on utility companies.
“Say, Duke Energy, you’re [going to] have to make less money sometimes because we can’t afford all these rate increases on households who aren’t able to charge all that to someone else,” Scott said.
Norton says Duke Energy is working hard to maximize its current power plants to make them more efficient and generate more electricity.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission will begin to consider Duke Energy’s proposed rate hikes in July and August of this year.
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