DURHAM, N.C. (June 24, 2026) — North Carolina families deserve clean, reliable, and affordable energy. However, Duke Energy’s proposed plan for the future would lock ratepayers into costly, unproven technologies, delay the retirement of polluting coal plants, and drive up energy bills, hitting communities already struggling the hardest.
North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN) and the Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN), represented by Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), filed a consumer statement this week with the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) calling on Duke Energy to do better by putting affordability, proven clean energy, and environmental justice at the center of its plan.
Click here to read the statement.
The NCUC is currently reviewing Duke Energy’s 2025 Carbon Plan and Integrated Resources Plan (CPIRP), a process mandated by state law that requires them to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 through a least-cost, reliable, and reasonable plan. NCEJN and EJCAN have both participated in prior versions of the biennial Carbon Plan process, consistently centering the disproportionate burdens energy decisions place on vulnerable communities.
“The communities we represent have lived with the health and environmental costs of polluting energy for generations,” said Sherri White-Williamson, Executive Director of EJCAN. “Duke Energy’s proposed plan asks the people with the least to pay the most. North Carolinians deserve a Carbon Plan that provides affordable energy without adding to the health burdens frontline communities already face from pollution from fossil fuel plants and climate change.”
“While Duke Energy makes record profits, Duke Energy seems to want North Carolinians to pay for the infrastructure for something we do not want: AI data centers,” said Rania Masri, Co-Executive Director of NCEJN.
The statement makes several key points, including:
- Methane gas is volatile and unreliable. The methane-gas-dependent plan poses economic and reliability risks for North Carolinians, with a significant burden on vulnerable communities.
- The plan will make energy bills unreasonably high for regular people. The proposed plan burdens residential ratepayers with infrastructure costs to accommodate exploding demand from data centers and does not meet the “true least cost” strategy required by law. In Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan rebuttal, their expert stated that in the last year, large load projects (including data centers) had grown by “approximately eight-fold,” significantly increasing North Carolina’s projected energy use.
- Additional diverse and resilient energy sources are needed to guarantee a carbon-neutral future. More clean energy must be utilized to ensure a cost-effective and reliable energy future for North Carolina.
- Duke’s proposed plan relies on unproven and expensive technologies. The small modular reactor (SMR) and enhanced natural gas (ELNG) are highly risky investments of ratepayer money.
“State law requires a least-cost, reliable plan, and this is not it,” said Aiswarya Murali, Counsel for Environmental Justice at SCSJ. “We are asking the Commission to hold Duke Energy to the standard North Carolinians were promised.”
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Southern Coalition for Social Justice came together in 2007 to give Black, Brown, and low-income people better resources in the fight for justice across the South. We are lawyers, social scientists, and communications professionals working to dismantle racism and oppression in the criminal legal system, in our environment, and at the ballot box. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN) is a North Carolina-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on, and dedicated to, achieving environmental justice. EJCAN provides resources to communities in Sampson County, NC seeking assistance in improving the environment where they live, work, play and pray. EJCAN serves these communities by empowering them with the technical, scientific, legal, educational and funding resources they need to overcome the powerful interests that stand in the way of successfully addressing the environmental problems they face.
North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN) is a grassroots, people of color-led coalition of community organizations and their supporters who work with low-income communities and people of color on issues of climate, environmental, racial, and social injustice.