Nearly 50,000 customers petition for Duke Energy audit after record-cold winter drove bills up :: WRAL.com
Duke Energy customers are frustrated after a spike in electric bills. Many customers reported seeing statements significantly higher than expected.
Nearly 50,000 people have signed a petition calling on the company to audit their billing system and issue refunds to customers.
Duke Energy officials say the change was due to the extremely cold weather at the beginning of the year. WRAL News reported that January and February’s winter storms brought the coldest weather this part of North Carolina has seen since 2010.
“That resulted in heating usage being upwards of about a third higher, at least for a lot of our customers, based on the metrics we’ve seen. And that would explain the types of increases that we’ve seen,” said Jeff Brooks, a Duke Energy representative.
Officials told WRAL News there was a small rate increase at the beginning of the year, but that was only a few dollars to the average residential bill. However, officials are asking for a higher rate increase for 2027 that could add up to $23 to the average bill.
