Energy Freedom for North Carolina

North Carolina’s electricity system was built for a different era. Duke Energy’s vertically integrated monopoly — controlling generation, transmission, and distribution — made sense when building out the grid required massive capital and guaranteed returns. That era is over. Today, the same model that once delivered reliable power now delivers higher prices, slower clean energy adoption, and a grid that failed during the 2022 winter storm. The technology for a better system exists. The political will to demand it is the missing ingredient.

Key Findings

Duke Energy’s monopoly insulates itself from competition and accountability. As the sole provider of electricity to more than 7 million North Carolinians, Duke Energy has little incentive to innovate, reduce costs, or accelerate the transition away from coal. In 2022, the company paid its shareholders $3.1 billion in dividends while lobbying to delay coal plant retirements until 2035.

The 2022 winter storm exposed the fragility of gas-heavy generation. Duke Energy’s over-reliance on natural gas — nearly half its generating capacity — caused cascading failures when the storm froze fuel supply infrastructure. A more distributed grid with renewable generation would have been more resilient, not less.

Renewable energy is now cheaper to build and operate than fossil fuels. The cost of new solar and wind generation has fallen dramatically. In 2022, new solar was already cheaper to build than new gas; by 2023, operating an existing coal plant cost more than building new renewables from scratch. The economics of the clean energy transition are no longer in question.

States that have deregulated their electricity markets have seen more competition and faster clean energy adoption. States like Texas and those in the PJM interconnection have demonstrated that open markets can deliver reliable power while lowering prices and accelerating renewable deployment. North Carolina is an outlier in the Southeast, and that outlier status is costing consumers.

Energy freedom means reliability, affordability, and sustainability — not just deregulation. Opening the market to competition must be paired with grid modernization, consumer protections, and smart policy on net metering and distributed generation. Deregulation without a plan to protect consumers and modernize the grid is not the goal.

What North Carolina Should Do

• Open the electricity market to retail competition, ending Duke Energy’s generation monopoly
• Establish an independent grid operator insulated from utility influence
• Expand net metering and remove barriers to rooftop solar and community solar
• Accelerate coal plant retirements with binding timelines, not voluntary commitments
• Invest in grid modernization to support distributed generation and electric vehicles