Stein, Jackson plan to hold Duke Energy ‘accountable’ in data center pledge
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson are urging Duke Energy to create a legally binding contract to ensure data centers pay their full share of electricity costs, protecting ratepayers. This follows Duke Energy's participation in the federal Ratepayer Protection Pledge, aiming to prevent cost shifts onto families. They call for new large load tariffs and rules to manage data center energy consumption and infrastructure costs.
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein and Attorney General Jeff Jackson are pressing Duke Energy to formalize its commitment to the federal administration's Ratepayer Protection Pledge through a legally binding contract. They assert that Duke Energy's promise to the federal government not to shift data center costs onto families must be enshrined with the North Carolina Utilities Commission to be enforceable and protect local power bills.
Attorney General Jackson emphasizes the need for Duke Energy to establish a separate rate class for data centers and large energy users, make realistic projections about data center growth, and ensure these large companies bear the full cost of infrastructure upgrades. Governor Stein adds that a legally binding large load tariff is essential, alongside programs allowing data centers to directly select and pay for their own power generation, to prevent rising electricity costs for North Carolinians.
While a settlement has been reached between Duke Energy Carolinas, the Utilities Commission's Public Staff, and others to establish large load tariffs and new rules for data centers, Stein and Jackson are advocating for stronger, legally enforceable measures. The Ratepayer Protection Pledge, signed by leading U.S. hyperscalers like Amazon, Google, Meta, OpenAI, and xAI, aims to ensure data centers build or buy new power supply and pay for infrastructure upgrades. Governor Stein's office also highlighted his previous action of eliminating sales and use tax exemptions for data centers' electricity use in the state budget.
Earlier this month, Duke Energy had lowered a proposed rate increase for residential customers from 18% to 11.6% following pushback. The current efforts by state officials are part of a broader push to manage the energy demands of growing data center development and safeguard consumers from associated costs.