Duke Asks For 12.6 Percent Rate Increase For NC

MARK WILLIAMS

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Utility company Duke Energy said Tuesday it will ask North Carolina regulators to increase customer rates by an average of 12.6 percent beginning Jan. 1 as it seeks to recover costs for pollution control equipment and new power lines and plants.

If approved by regulators, the increase would boost rates for the average residential customer by $11 a month to $93, according to the company. Rates for industrial customers would go up 15 percent and rates for other customers would increase by nearly 10 percent.

The increase would generate nearly $500 million a year for Duke. About 70 percent of the $5.9 billion in revenue the company received from its 2.4 million customers in the Carolinas in 2008 came from customers in North Carolina.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke Energy Corp. adjusts its fuel costs that customers pay annually, but the last general rate increase in North Carolina was 1991.

"Our current rates are simply not sufficient to meet our day-to-day expenses, build cleaner and more reliable energy infrastructure, provide a fair return to our investors, and maintain a strong financial position that keeps our credit rating high and our cost of borrowing low," the company said.