How Much Would Your Bill Increase If Duke’s Fee Hike Is Approved?

See how much your bill would increase if Duke Energy's proposed fee hike is approved. Read on to find out more and how you can help stop the fee hike!

Chris Carnevale | February 26, 2019 | Energy Policy, South Carolina
Duke Energy is proposing to triple the hidden, mandatory monthly fee for its South Carolina customers, going from the current $8-9 per month all the way up to $28-29 per month. That means Duke’s SC customers would owe at least $336 per year before even flipping on the light switch! This would be the highest mandatory monthly fee of any investor-owned utility in the nation!

Since the fee hike would take away customers’ ability to lower their bills through saving energy, it would disproportionately harm low-usage customers, including seniors, low-income families, and families who use solar or energy efficiency.

So how much would YOUR bill go up under Duke’s proposal? Check out the chart and table below to see how much your bill would increase if Duke gets their fee hike approved.

You need to know that Duke’s proposal isn’t a done deal yet. Before going into effect, the proposal must be approved by the SC Public Service Commission (PSC), which means that it can be defeated if we speak up loudly in opposition! The PSC has scheduled five public hearings to hear from customers like you, so make sure to show up and raise your voice! See here for ideas on what you might want to talk about in your comments.

Here are the hearing details:

Spartanburg Hearing
Tuesday, March 12
6:00 pm
Spartanburg County Council Chambers, Spartanburg County Administration Building
366 N Church Street, Main Level, Suite 1000,
Spartanburg, SC 29303
Share the Facebook event page here

Anderson Hearing
Wednesday, March 13
6:00 pm
Anderson County Council Chambers
101 S Main Street,
Anderson, SC 29624
Share the Facebook event page here

Greenville Hearing
Thursday, March 14
6:00 pm
Greenville County Council Chambers
301 University Ridge, Suite 2400, Greenville, SC 29601
Share the Facebook event page here

Florence Hearing
Monday, April 1, 2019
6:00 pm
Florence County Council Chambers
180 N. Irby Street, MSC-G
Florence, SC 29501
Share the Facebook event page here

Sumter Hearing
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
6:00 pm
USC Sumter – Nettles Auditorium
200 Miller Road
Sumter, SC 29150
Share the Facebook event page here

If you can’t attend your local hearing, make sure to write a letter to the PSC, which you can do easily with the form here.

How Much Would Your Bill Increase If Duke’s Fee Hike Is Approved?

The chart and table below show how much the bills of Upstate Duke residents (customers of Duke Energy Carolinas–Duke’s Upstate electricity provider) would increase if Duke’s fee hike is approved, however Pee Dee residents (customers of Duke Energy Progress–Duke’s Pee Dee electricity provider) would have similar impacts.

The table below shows how much your monthly bill would increase if Duke Energy’s proposed fee hike is approved. For example, customers who currently pay $55/month would end up paying about $72.46/month, customers who currently pay $75/month would end up paying about $91.32/month, and customers who currently pay $95/month would end up paying about $110.18/month.

Chris Carnevale
Chris is SACE’s Climate Advocacy Director. Chris joined the SACE staff in 2011 to help with building public understanding and engagement around clean energy solutions to the climate crisis. Chris…
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