Duke rate hike OK’d

The Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSCSC) approved an average 5.98 percent rate increase for Duke Energy.
The increase is well below the originally proposed 15 percent average rate increase decried by most private Lancaster residents who spoke during a PSCSC hearing on the matter in November.
The new rates, approved by PSCSC commissioners during a meeting last week, increases residential rates by 7.1 percent, or roughly $6.25 on an average 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month home bill.
Commercial rates will increase by 5.2 percent, industrial rates by 5.1 percent and lighting rates by 5.8 percent.
The increases went into effect Monday, Feb. 6.
Duke Energy South Carolina President Catherine Heigel said in a press release the settlement “strikes a balance between the economic challenges facing our customers and the company’s need to recover its capital investments.”
The rate increase will raise an additional $92.8 million in revenue the company will use to begin paying off $6.5 billion in capital improvements.
As part of the agreement reached with the public advocates of the S.C. Office of Regulatory Staff and other partners in the rate hearing such as Walmart Stores East, Duke Energy South Carolina will donate $4 million to AdvanceSC.
AdvanceSC is a limited liability company (LLC) set up by Duke Energy South Carolina for low-income assistance programs, economic development, workforce education and development and manufacturing grants in the company’s coverage area.
The company’s Bulk Power Marketing profit allocation from sharing with other utilities will also change under the agreement from 50 percent to AdvanceSC and 50 percent to Duke Energy to 50 to AdvanceSC, 40 percent to customers and 10 percent to the company.
The rate increase is the second for Duke Energy Carolinas in two years, and the company expects to ask for another in August, company spokesman Jason Wells said last month.
The upcoming request is expected to help make up some of the nearly $125 million revenue difference between the current agreement and the $216 million in revenue the company hoped for with its original request.
The upcoming rate increase request will help pay for two new power plants the company expects to go online this year, the company says.
For more information, visit duke-energy.com/youtility.