Duke Energy Carolinas cut its North Carolina rate request to $496 million over two years from the $1.002 billion it originally sought, after a series of settlements with state staff and other parties narrowed the case.
The company’s initial filing on Nov. 20, 2025 called for about a 15.0% increase in retail revenues over the two-year period, or roughly $1.002 billion. In June, Duke revised that request down to $622 million, a 9.3% increase. The comprehensive settlement filed July 17 reduced it again to $496 million, which the company said equals an average annual rate increase of 3.7% over two years.
The original filing was built on a requested 10.95% return on equity with a 53% equity component in the capital structure. The June rebuttal testimony lowered that ROE request to 10.48%. The comprehensive settlement brought it down further, to 9.8%, while keeping the equity component at 53%.
The rate base used in the case also moved lower. The company’s initial filing was based on about $26.5 billion of North Carolina retail rate base as of Dec. 31, 2024. The comprehensive settlement uses a base case of about $25.7 billion.
Capital spending included in the multiyear plan was trimmed as well. The original filing included about $4.4 billion of North Carolina retail-allocated capital projects projected to go into service during the two-year period. The comprehensive settlement reduces that to about $3.8 billion.
The reconciliation table shows how the request came down in stages. Starting from the original $1.002 billion combined request, post-filing and pre-stipulation adjustments cut $380 million, bringing the total to $622 million. The partial settlement removed another $66 million, taking the request to $556 million. The reduction in ROE from 10.48% to 9.8% cut $133 million more, and other stipulated adjustments added back $111 million, leaving the final $496 million request.
The settlement also changes the timing of the rate impact. The company’s net annualized customer rate increase is shown as 2.9% for the historic base case, 1.4% in year 1 of the multiyear plan, 4.3% for year 1 total, 3.1% in year 2, and 7.4% on a combined basis.
Separately, Duke agreed to a $10 million shareholder contribution for bill assistance and home repair programs. The company also said the stipulations are expected to produce one-time pre-tax accounting charges of about $40 million in 2026. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved -0.87% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $125.01. Check out the company's full 8-K submission here.
