In the heat of summer, some North Carolinians struggle to find balance between their thermostat and their bank accounts. Now, Duke Energy, the state's largest electricity provider, is asking a state regulatory body to allow higher prices — a move opposed by public outcry at hearings across the state.
Company executives said they lowered their requested home electricity rate from 18% to 11.6% in response to thousands of complaints from customers. Many said they feared they would not be able to pay their power bills if the North Carolina Utilities Commission approved Duke’s original request.
But consumer advocates, including North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, said the revised request is still too high.
The commission will soon have the final say after hearing hours of testimony from Duke Energy, customers, consumer advocates, and energy experts.
What is the North Carolina Utilities Commission?
The commission, often abbreviated as NCUC, is the oldest regulatory body in state government. It evolved out of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, created in 1891 to oversee railroad, steamboat and telegraph companies.
In short, its role is to regulate monopolies.
In North Carolina, customers can’t shop around for power companies the way they can for other goods or services. The commission's directive is to ensure the public gets adequate, reliable service at reasonable rates while also allowing utility companies to earn a reasonable profit.
The NCUC regulates private, investor-owned power and water companies, not public utilities like city-owned power and water. City councils or local utility boards usually oversee those entities.
Who is on the North Carolina Utilities Commission?
The NCUC consists of five members who serve staggered six-year terms. Two are appointed by the governor, two by the General Assembly, and one by the state treasurer.
According to the state employee salary database, the chair of the commission earns a salary of $175,765. The other four commissioners make $158,076 each year.
Because it functions much like a court system, commissioners are subject to judicial standards of conduct and are prohibited by law from having any other job or business while in office.
The current commissioners are:
- William M. Brawley (Chairman) — Brawley was nominated by former NC Speaker of the House Tim Moore. He is an Army veteran with an accounting degree from the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Brawley started his career submitting rate filings for a natural gas utility. He also previously served as a member of the North Carolina Medical Board and a Republican state representative from Mecklenburg County.
- Floyd B. McKissick, Jr. — McKissick was first nominated by former Gov. Roy Cooper and renominated by Gov. Josh Stein. He is an attorney with a law degree from Duke University, and previously served as a Democratic state Senator from Durham County. McKissick is the son of the late civil rights leader Floyd McKissick, Sr.
- Tommy Tucker — Tucker was nominated by former Speaker Moore. He is a Navy veteran who graduated from Randolph-Macon Military Academy and attended NC State University. Tucker was previously a Republican state senator from Union County. He was a founding board member of a community bank in Monroe.
- Donald van der Vaart — Van der Vaart was appointed by State Treasurer Brad Briner. He has a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Cambridge. Van der Vaart previously served as secretary of the state Department of Environmental Quality under former Gov. Pat McCrory. He also worked for Duke Energy in the 1990s as its director of environmental services.
- John Gajda — Gajda was appointed by Gov. Josh Stein. He has an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from NC State, where he was previously an electrical engineering professor. Gajda has also held positions in the U.S. Department of Energy and worked as an engineer for Duke Energy and Strata Clean Energy.
How does the North Carolina Utilities Commission conduct its business?
When a utility like Duke Energy wants to raise rates, it has to submit a request to the commission, call witnesses during a series of hearings and make its case for bringing in more money from customers.
As part of those cases, commissioners travel all over the state to hear directly from customers. In the current Duke Energy rate cases, the commission held 11 public hearings over the course of three months. Consumers testified largely about their struggles to afford higher power bills.
The NCUC also holds hearings in Raleigh for members to review the utility’s finances and hear from expert witnesses. These hearings can take weeks. An independent state agency made up of lawyers and energy experts, called the Public Staff, represents consumers in these hearings.
The Public Staff has pushed back aggressively against Duke’s current rate request. Its experts called many of the company’s expenses “unreasonable,” including $19.6 million in corporate jet expenses. They also pointed out that Duke reported $4.9 billion in profit in 2025.
For a general rate case, the NCUC typically issues its ruling within seven to nine months of the initial request. However, they are on a strict clock: If the NCUC does not make a decision within 10 months, the utility's requested rate hike goes into effect automatically.
Duke Energy first submitted its current request on Nov. 20, 2025, so the commission has until Sept. 20, 2026 to make a decision. Commissioners are expected to hear more expert witness testimony at a hearing in Raleigh this week. Their final scheduled hearing takes place in August.
Get involved
Want to share your thoughts?
The commission accepts written testimony and public comments online.
The docket number for the Duke Energy Carolinas rate case is E-7 Sub 1329. The docket number for the Duke Energy Progress rate case is E-2 Sub 1380. If you’re unsure about which subsidiary provides your power, you may include both.
Can I attend the hearing?
Yes, expert testimony is open to the public and can also be viewed on YouTube.
This article first appeared on NCLocal and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
