'We'd be sitting in the dark if it goes up any higher': residents worry about rate hikes to power new AI data centers

Residents of Lee County, North Carolina, are actively opposing data center developments in their community, citing worries over energy rate hikes and environmental degradation. Sheila Sherrick, a Lee County resident, voiced concerns about her groundwater and electricity bills, especially regarding Deep River Data, a company with cryptomining ties, which has shown interest in fracking for natural gas to power data centers in the area. On March 16, 2026, over 100 Lee County neighbors gathered at Sanford's McSwain Center to address their county commissioners. Sherrick urged the commission to consider a moratorium to prevent residents from bearing the cost of new data centers. In response, the commission voted to begin drafting language for a moratorium, providing the county time to establish equitable cost allocations. Simultaneously, North Carolina's largest utility, Duke Energy, is proposing an ambitious capital plan to meet the projected demand from power-hungry data centers, which account for 80% of the state's new economic growth energy demand. Discussions are ongoing with state regulators regarding the implementation of large-load tariffs to ensure data centers pay their fair share of infrastructure costs. Jeremy Fisher, the Sierra Club's principal advisor for climate and energy, noted that such tariffs typically require large customers to pay a minimum percentage of their contracted capacity. However, Nick Jimenez, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, expressed skepticism that current rate structures would equitably allocate costs, especially as Duke Energy proposes increasing natural gas generation and delaying coal plant retirements to meet the inflexible 24/7 demand from data centers. Bill Norton, a Duke Energy spokesperson, argued that a high-demand scenario could potentially drive down costs for the utility's capital plan, but warned of increased costs if data centers do not materialize as expected. This issue is part of a 6-part series exploring the impact of the data center boom across North Carolina.