Duke Energy to pass tax savings along to customers

Duke Energy plans to pass along savings from the new federal tax law to its North Carolina customers, officials said Thursday.

Posted 9:09 p.m. Feb 1, 2018 — Updated 10:20 p.m. Feb 1, 2018

Matthew Burns

, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke Energy plans to pass along savings from the new federal tax law to its North Carolina customers, officials said Thursday.

"This is a unique opportunity that allows us to reduce customer bills in the short term while also helping to offset future rate increases," David Fountain, Duke's North Carolina president, said in a statement. "With a balanced approach, our customers can benefit from a reduction in the corporate income tax rate, while we continue to make smart investments on behalf of our customers."

The Charlotte-based utility filed a proposal with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, which is considering a rate increase for the company's customers in the eastern part of the state – a rate increase request for customers in the western part of the state will go to the commission later this year.

Duke recommended several options to the Utilities Commission:

Apply tax savings to offset a portion of the pending rate request
Avoid billing customers for storm-related and ongoing environmental compliance costs
Accelerate the depreciation of assets, such as smart meters or coal plants, which would reduce future requests to include these investments in customer rates

Attorney General Josh Stein, who has been pushing to limit any rate increases the Utilities Commission awards Duke, commended the company for offering to pass along its tax savings.

"The rates we pay utilities have been set assuming higher taxes. It would be wrong for us to pay the utilities for an expense they are not incurring," Stein said in a statement.

Duke officials said it's too early to determine the impact of any changes on customers' energy bills.

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