Duke Energy made $985 million in profits last quarter, up 7.6% from last year. Rate hikes and economic development drove profits for the utility. That includes new commercial customers and new power-hungry data centers, such as the $10 billion Amazon data center investment in North Carolina that the utility actively courted.
The quarterly results come on the heels of new legislation that increases the ability to recover costs and removes a key North Carolina climate target.
When it comes to building new energy generation, the utility focused on its plans to build new natural gas generation, primarily in North Carolina, with two new turbines coming to the Marshall Steam Station on Lake Norman. Only two projects have received the green light:
- A combined-cycle generator providing 1,360 megawatts of power in Person County, North Carolina. In-service date: 2028.
- Two combustion turbines providing a cumulative 850 MW of power at the Marshall Steam Station in Catawba County, North Carolina. In-service date: 2028.
Duke attributes the buildout of energy generation resources, primarily natural gas, to the “unprecedented” growth in demand the utility expects. In the United States, natural gas combustion accounts for a higher share of carbon pollution than coal overall, but, in the electricity sector, coal still dominates.
To finance these and other projects, the company is working on two large cash transactions. Brookfield acquired a non-controlling share of the utility’s Florida company for $6 billion. Duke also plans to sell off its Piedmont Tennessee Natural Gas business for $2.4 billion.
The company is planning to file for a merger of Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Carolinas, creating one unified utility with the same rates across its territory. The company predicts that this will save customers $1 billion through 2038. The merger, if approved, is expected to take effect in January 2026.
North Carolina’s recently passed Power Bill Reduction Act removes the utility’s 2030 carbon pollution reduction target, which would have required it to cut carbon pollution in the next five years. It also allows Duke to recover annual costs on ongoing capital projects, such as new nuclear reactors.
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