(Davis Turner/Getty Images)
(RALEIGH, N.C.) North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein on Monday announced a $1.1 billion settlement with Duke Energy that requires the energy company to pay for some coal ash cleanup in the state.
Stein collaborated with the Public Staff of the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the Sierra Club on the settlement that the Attorney General says will save the state’s electricity customers “more than $1 billion on their utility bills over the next 10 years,” according to a statement.
“Today’s settlement is a win for every Duke Energy customer,” said Stein. “I have long held that North Carolinians should not bear the full cost of cleaning up coal ash. As a result of today’s settlement, we won’t — to the tune of more than $1 billion.”
The settlement is the result of a 2017 challenge made by the same organizations to an order that allowed Duke Energy to charge its customers for the full cost of coal ash cleanup. Stein, the Public Staff and the Sierra Club appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court, which issued its final decision in December.
The settlement will apply to cleanup costs incurred from 2015 through 2030. Stein said that the expected savings for customers of $1.1 billion will depend on interest rates and the ultimate cost of coal ash cleanup. The estimate is based on the net present value of savings for retail and wholesale customers.
The settlement announced today only relates to the payment of coal ash cleanup costs and doesn’t change the work Duke Energy committed to in its December 2019 settlement, which required the energy company to excavate more than 76 million tons of coal ash from open, unlined impoundments.
“Just as with last year’s historic agreement for Duke to finally clean up all of its toxic coal ash in North Carolina, today’s settlement shows that sustained and determined grassroots and legal pressure can move even a monopoly corporation to do the right thing,” said Dave Rogers, Southeast deputy regional campaign director for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. “This agreement means Duke will pay for a portion of the coal ash clean up, lifting a burden of more than $1 billion off of families and businesses who would have otherwise been forced to pay.”
If approved by the Utilities Commission, the settlement would reduce coal ash costs included in the pending rate requests by 60%, which would provide immediate customer savings, according to Duke Energy.
"Now, we can close the dirty chapter on coal ash, a 20th century problem, and focus on the energy issues of the 21st century," Stein said on Twitter. "We need reliable, affordable clean energy so we can eliminate the carbon emissions that are fueling the climate crisis."