RALEIGH, N.C. — Attorney General Jeff Jackson told the North Carolina Utilities Commission that data centers should shoulder more of the costs tied to their power demand, arguing for a separate rate class for data centers and a path for the companies to supply their own clean energy.
In a filing Tuesday, Jackson said trillion-dollar tech companies can afford to build the infrastructure they need and that North Carolina families should not have to pay for it. A release accompanying the filing said Duke Energy expects data centers and other large energy users to make up more than 80% of its new energy demand.
Jackson and Gov. Josh Stein challenged Duke Energy in July after signing onto the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a federal initiative that asks large utilities to generate and pay for power for big new loads in a separate rate class so costs do not spill onto other customers. Jackson said that structure would help keep those costs from falling on other Duke Energy customers.
Separately, clean-energy groups slammed a Duke Energy large-load tariff settlement made public October 6, saying it fails to hold data centers accountable for steep energy demands and allows them to walk away by paying only a small fraction of the cost of the upgrades they triggered. The Southern Environmental Law Center, filing for the North Carolina Justice Center, North Carolina Housing Coalition, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and Vote Solar, urged a stronger tariff and a Clean Transition Tariff option.
Nick Jimenez, a senior attorney at SELC, said Duke and hyperscale operators moved from opposing any large-load tariff to asking for one whose protections are too lenient. Jake Duncan, senior southeast regulatory director at Vote Solar, said the commission has already shown readiness for strong customer protections and should not accept weaker settlement terms. The commission is weighing the settlement against its own model large-load tariff.
