Leading companies in North Carolina are urging the state’s House of Representatives to vote against legislation that would rollback Duke Energy’s near-term carbon reduction target and allow the utility to saddle ratepayers with the financial risks of unbuilt power plants.
Nestlé, Sierra Nevada, DSM, IKEA US, New Belgium Brewing, and REI are among the large companies to sign a letter to members of the North Carolina General Assembly in opposition to SB 261, which passed the Senate earlier in Marchand is awaiting action in the House. The law would eliminate Duke’s 2030 target to increase clean energy and cut emissions, which was established in bipartisan fashion by HB 951 in 2021.
“Companies like ours value a stable environment for energy policy,” the companies wrote in the letter. “Rolling back the state’s interim target would not only jeopardize the long-term transition to carbon-neutrality by 2050 but would also disincentivize future investment and expansion by our business and industry colleagues.”
In the letter, the companies emphasized that they value access to clean energy because it is both more affordable and reliable than other forms.
The letter also highlights how SB 261 puts energy consumers at risk for higher energy rates because it would allow utilities to preemptively transfer costs to ratepayers for new power plants that may never be built or used. Similar policies in South Carolina and Georgia cost ratepayers billions of dollars in stranded assets and cost overruns, the companies wrote. In South Carolina, utilities were able to bill ratepayers upwards of $9 billion for a project that was ultimately abandoned. And in Georgia, ratepayers were left on the hook for more than $20 billion in cost overruns. In 2018, Georgia lawmakers took action to prevent utilities from financing these projects upfront going forward. The South Carolina Senate also passed legislation to that effect in 2018, but it was not adopted by the House. SB 261 would subject North Carolinas to those same risks.
“North Carolina companies strongly support clean energy policies that provide access to affordable, reliable power to operate their businesses,” said Mel Mackin, director of state policy at Ceres, the nonprofit advocacy organization that worked with companies on the letter. “SB 261 would make it harder for them to meet their needs while unnecessarily risking significant increases in electricity costs that would hurt businesses, residents, and the North Carolina economy. Lawmakers should learn from the lesson of its southern neighbors and reject this legislation and instead seek solutions that would increase the reliability and affordability of electricity in North Carolina.”
About Ceres
Ceres is a nonprofit advocacy organization working to accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more just, and sustainable world. United under a shared vision, our powerful networks of investors and companies are proving sustainability is the bottom line—changing markets and sectors from the inside out. For more information, visit ceres.org.