Ty McFarland with the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters says residential customers are feeling the squeeze of higher utility costs as Duke Energy is seeing record profits. (Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline)
North Carolinians who suffered through an unseasonably cold and snowy January are just now beginning to see the true cost of trying to stay warm. Ty McFarland with the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters says residential customers are feeling the squeeze of higher costs even as Duke Energy is seeing record profits.
“Today, Duke Energy announced their annual earnings, $4.9 billion,” said McFarland. “That’s how much they delivered in profits to Wall Street shareholders, while hardworking families’ bills go up and up.”
McFarland and other progressive advocates gathered outside the NC Legislature Tuesday to call on lawmakers to do more to help struggling families. Ahead of the 2026 short session, the Coalition Against Right-Wing Extremism (C.A.R.E.) is launching the “Cost We Carry” storybook, spotlighting firsthand accounts from North Carolinians who are being impacted by the rising costs.
The coalition is urging lawmakers to finalize a comprehensive state budget, invest in food security and rein in runaway utility costs.
In the case of Duke Energy, McFarland said lawmakers enacted legislation to allow Duke Energy to charge its customers for power plants they haven’t built yet. That law, he says, is projected to increase residential energy bills by over $23 billion over the next 25 years.
“If that wasn’t bad enough,” said McFarland, “now Duke Energy is trying to raise our rates by $23 to $30 a month, depending on where you live.”
Public hearings for the proposed residential rate hike begin in March.
Leslie Johnson of the Word of God Fellowship Outreach Food Pantry said the people she sees on a weekly basis are struggling with more than just utilities.
“Food insecurity is at its all-time high, and that affects our elderly, our children, all demographics, from rural to urban, everywhere,” said Johnson.
Johnson says the cost of providing just soup and salad is up almost 12% from last year.
“This is not a Democratic or a Republican issue. This is a United States of America and a North Carolina issue,” said Johnson. “Let’s get this taken care of to support our state.”
Alexandra Sirota of the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center (Photo: Clayton Henkel/NC Newsline)Alexandra Sirota of the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center said financial insecurity is forcing North Carolinians to choose between basic needs.
“At BTC, we spend a lot of time analyzing numbers, but behind every data point is a person making an impossible choice – whether to fill a prescription or pay the power bill or put gas in the car to get to work,” Sirota said.
Sirota added that policy choices in Washington, including letting the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits expire, have caused health insurance premiums to jump by double digits.
“At least 200,000 of us, and the most of any state in the nation, have lost coverage altogether because it simply became unaffordable,” said Sirota.
Sirota said without support from the government, people pay more out-of-pocket, skip getting care, or drop coverage entirely. She said that’s bad for family budgets, and bad for the economy.
A Catawba-YouGov poll released last week finds 63% of North Carolina residents saying that prices are higher than a year ago, while 53% said energy and utility costs are unaffordable.
A separate poll by the nonpartisan health research organization KFF found the cost of health care, including paying for health insurance and out-of-pocket expenses, tops the list of the public’s economic anxieties. In the KFF poll, more than 4 in 10 voters said healthcare will have a major impact on their vote in this year’s midterm election.
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