RALEIGH — Attorney General Jeff Jackson and Gov. Josh Stein are seeking stronger consumer protections in Duke Energy’s proposed rules for data centers and other large electricity users, putting the allocation of energy costs before state utility regulators.
In an Oct. 14 announcement, Jackson’s office described the proposal as progress but said it leaves unresolved questions about who will pay for new power plants, how large users’ costs will be tracked and whether those customers will bring their own clean energy.
The dispute concerns a proposed large-load tariff, a framework governing service to major electricity customers. Jackson argued that those customers should bear the costs they create rather than shift them to households.
Duke outlined the agreement Oct. 7, saying it would strengthen protections already used in contracts with large customers. The company reached the settlement with the North Carolina Public Staff and other parties, including major technology companies and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Duke said customers would make nonrefundable upfront payments for facilities serving them alone, such as substations. The agreement also calls for deposits and financial guarantees for grid upgrades serving multiple customers.
New large-load customers would receive service under a High Load Factor rate schedule, according to Duke. The company said the agreement would cover customers using at least 50 megawatts at an 80% load factor whose service agreements were signed after June 1.
Duke said the North Carolina Utilities Commission must approve the agreement and that it expected a decision by mid-November. Its statement presented the proposal as a way to protect existing customers while accommodating new demand.
Jackson’s office, however, said a rate schedule would not resolve its request for a separate large-user rate class to track costs. The office also sought requirements addressing generation costs and clean-energy supply.
The competing statements frame the central regulatory question: whether the proposed payments and contract terms adequately assign the costs of serving large users to those customers.