Started seeing a "Regulatory Assessment Fee" of 0.13% of total bill amount on several Duke Energy Progress accounts in the Raleigh area. This appeared in November 2022 bills without any notice or tariff filing that I can find. Duke customer service claims it's for North Carolina Utilities Commission assessments, but the NCUC website shows utilities are supposed to absorb these costs, not pass them to customers. Anyone else seeing this charge?
Duke Energy Progress "regulatory fee" showing up
Ann, I'm seeing the same charge on Charlotte area Duke accounts. Started appearing in late October on about 40% of my commercial clients' bills. The percentage seems to vary - I'm seeing 0.11% to 0.15% depending on rate schedule. Filed an informal complaint with NCUC arguing this violates their rules about utility assessment cost recovery.
Sam's right about NCUC rules. I dealt with a similar situation in 2019 when Duke tried to add a "commission assessment recovery" charge. NCUC Staff ruled that utilities must include regulatory assessment costs in base rates, not recover them through separate line item charges. The precedent should apply here too.
Derek, do you have the 2019 NCUC ruling reference? That would be perfect precedent to cite in formal complaints. I've got about 20 accounts affected with total monthly charges around $2,400. Small individually but significant in aggregate.
NCUC Docket E-2 Sub 1219, Order issued March 15, 2019. The key language is that "regulatory assessments are ordinary business expenses that should be recovered through base rates approved in general rate cases, not through separate tracker mechanisms."
Perfect Derek, thanks. Filed formal complaints with NCUC on January 12th citing the 2019 precedent. Also sent courtesy copies to Duke Energy regulatory affairs. Hoping they'll voluntarily suspend the charge rather than fight it through formal proceedings.
Great work everyone tracking down the precedent and filing complaints. This is exactly the kind of unauthorized charge that utilities hope will slip through unnoticed. The 0.13% seems small but applied across Duke's entire customer base it's millions of dollars annually in improper charges.