CHARLOTTE — Duke Energy Corp. informed North Carolina regulators this week that it is extending its voluntary suspension of disconnections for low-income customers behind on their bills.
That announcement came on the same day two nonprofit groups reported Duke was the largest utility beneficiary of federal coronavirus relief funds — but still had third-most disconnections among the nation’s top 16 power companies.
Bailout Watch and the Center for Biological Diversity issued the report, called “Powerless in the Pandemic,” based on publicly available information on federal benefits and state disconnections. The groups calculated that Duke performed some 60,700 service disconnections in North Carolina from February 2020, when state regulators first ordered a moratorium, to June of this year.
Duke spokeswoman Pam Hardy calls the report “completely misleading and riddled with inaccuracies.” She defended the company’s support for customers during the pandemic.
But the report by the nonprofits does contain some sobering numbers.
Read the full story here.
(WATCH BELOW: Duke Energy rate hikes for all NC customers going into effect)
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