CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The 2025 state law that scrapped North Carolina’s 2030 carbon-cutting deadline has also lifted Duke Energy’s profits this year, the company’s own financial filings show, though the utility says the bump is temporary.
Senate Bill 266, which Duke calls the North Carolina Power Bill Reduction Act, removed an interim requirement that the utility slash its planet-warming emissions 70% below 2005 levels by 2030. It also changed how Duke gets paid back by customers for building new plants, lowering the company’s risk on gas-fired and nuclear projects.
In its third-quarter results released Nov. 5, the utility posted earnings of $1.99 per share, up from $1.81 a year earlier. A footnote credits the law with 2 cents of the third-quarter gain. Across the year so far, the company tied 9 cents per share to the law, part of a 32-cent improvement it attributed to riders and other retail margin. An energy watchdog group estimates the law has been worth at least $66 million to $74 million for shareholders in 2026.
Duke Energy says the law did not raise what customers pay. Its explanation: the measure moved recovery of purchased power costs, the electricity Duke buys from other grids and outside plants, entirely into its annual fuel rider instead of splitting it between that rider and base rates. The company says the total collected over time is unchanged and the earnings effect is a matter of timing that should reverse in upcoming quarters.
Utilities do not profit on the fuel they burn; those costs pass straight through to ratepayers and are adjusted each year. The law also bars Duke from collecting more or less than it actually spent on fuel and purchased power.
Consumer advocates argue the new plant-cost rules shift financial risk onto households, while clean energy groups say they make solar farms less attractive to the utility. Duke has narrowed its full-year 2026 adjusted earnings forecast to $6.70 to $6.80 per share and plans to add 16 gigawatts of generating capacity by 2031.
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