Duke Energy Carolinas · North Carolina commercial accounts

Is your Duke Energy Carolinas commercial bill right?

Duke Energy Carolinas changes twice on January 1, 2027: new rates from a $496 million settlement and a combination with Duke Energy Progress into one utility. One cold week last January is still on your bill through 2027. Nobody at Duke checks whether your bill reconstructs from the tariff. OptivAI does, every cycle, with a dedicated AI Energy Expert on your account, a rate-plan verdict each month and an Optimization Roadmap built from how your building actually runs. $99 per account per month. No equipment, no audit, nothing to install.

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Tariff basis: Duke Energy Carolinas North Carolina leaves effective January 1, 2026 and rider elements in force September 1, 2026. Last reviewed by OptivAI on November 11, 2026.

The two questions every Duke Energy Carolinas business owner eventually types

1. Is my Duke Energy Carolinas bill right?

A Duke Energy Carolinas commercial bill has a short list of base charges and a long tail of riders. On the small general service class alone, thirteen separate rider elements were in force on September 1, 2026, from two different fuel riders to two storm securitization charges to a nuclear tax credit that runs the other way. The demand you pay for is a billing demand, not what you used, set by a 70 percent twelve-month ratchet. And on LGS the energy price itself depends on how many kWh you used per kW of that billing demand, so a demand error becomes an energy error too.

OptivAI rebuilds the bill from the filed North Carolina leaf each cycle, applies each rider increment or decrement in force for that billing month and your class, checks billing demand against the ratchet and the 30 kW floor, and compares the result with what was charged. Anything that does not reconstruct is flagged, in plain language, in your portal.

2. Am I on the right Duke Energy Carolinas rate plan?

Your schedule follows your demand. Cross 75 kW in any single month and you move from SGS to LGS; you only move back after twelve consecutive months at or below 75 kW. Many accounts sit just over the line and pay LGS prices for SGS-sized usage without anyone noticing the month that put them there. Buildings that run evenings, overnight or year-round may belong on OPT-V time-of-use, where on-peak is only three hours a day. Manufacturers with more than half their usage in process load qualify for Schedule I and are not always on it.

Every cycle OptivAI compares your actual usage against each schedule your account is eligible for and delivers a verdict: stay, or switch and why. Where a switch makes sense, you see the projected difference, labelled Projected until your own bill proves it. Duke makes the change; we make sure you know to ask for it.

The Duke Energy Carolinas rate schedules we read

These are the North Carolina commercial schedules in OptivAI's Duke Energy Carolinas tariff catalog, read from Duke's published leaves effective January 1, 2026 (NCUC Docket E-7, Subs 1276 and 1325). Lighting, EV, net metering, economic development riders and South Carolina accounts are reviewed account by account.

ScheduleWho it is forWhat we watch
SGSSmall General Service. Non-residential accounts with demand of 75 kW or less. $21.00 customer charge; no demand charge on the first 30 kW of billing demand, $5.90 per kW above it; energy at 13.9065¢ for the first 3,000 kWh, 7.6486¢ for the next 6,000, 6.5365¢ above 9,000.Whether one month over 75 kW has pushed the account onto LGS; billing demand above the 30 kW floor; the thirteen rider elements that ride on every kWh.
LGSLarge General Service. Demand over 75 kW; returns to SGS only after twelve consecutive months at 75 kW or less. $26.00 customer charge; $4.82 per kW above the first 30 kW; energy priced in blocks of kWh per kW of billing demand (first 125 kWh per kW at 13.9830¢ then 8.2590¢, next 275 at 7.7045¢ then 6.6824¢, all over 400 kWh per kW at 6.2501¢).The ratchet twice over: billing demand sets the demand charge and also decides which energy block each kWh falls into. Load factor is the lever.
OPT-VOptional Power Service, Time of Use with voltage differential. Contract demand of 75 kW or more. Separate on-peak, mid-peak and base demand charges plus on-peak, off-peak and discount energy prices by delivery voltage.On-peak is 6 to 9 pm on summer weekdays and 6 to 9 am on non-summer weekdays, with discount hours overnight. Size class (Small, Medium, Large) is reset each November from summer on-peak demand. We model twelve real months before recommending it.
IIndustrial Service. Manufacturing establishments (NAICS) using more than half their electricity in the manufacturing process. $21.00 customer charge; $5.47 per kW above the first 30 kW; same 70% ratchet.Whether a qualifying manufacturer is on it; the industrial rider values differ from general service and we apply the right column.
HLFHigh Load Factor. The schedule Duke now requires for new large loads of 50 MW and up, including data centers, under the October 2026 large-load settlement.Not a schedule most businesses will ever see, but it decides who pays for the grid being built for data centers. We track it because it shapes everyone else's rates.

Reference bills from the Public Staff at September 1, 2026 rates: an SGS account at 25 kW and 1,800 kWh, $572.17; an LGS account at 100 kW and 36,000 kWh, $3,649.73; an LGS account at 1,250 kW and 550,000 kWh, $51,903.94. If your statement for a comparable month is far from these, that is the first thing we look at.

Billing demand: why one half hour in July is still on your bill next June

On Schedules SGS, LGS and I, the kW you pay for is the largest of four numbers. Duke meters demand in 30-minute intervals, and a single interval can set 70 percent of your demand charge for the next twelve months. The bill shows one figure and does not say which rule produced it.

ActualThis month's highest 30-minute demand.
70%Of the highest 30-minute demand in the previous twelve billing months, including this one.
50%Of your contract demand, starting with the thirteenth full billing month.
30 kWThe floor. The first 30 kW carry no demand charge; every kW above is billed.

Two more things ride on the demand figure. If your average power factor falls below 85 percent, Duke may scale the demand up before billing it. And on LGS, the energy blocks are measured in kWh per kW of billing demand, so a high ratchet also pushes more of your kWh into the expensive first block. OptivAI tracks billing demand month by month, shows you which rule is setting it, and tells you when a single avoidable peak or an oversized contract demand is the reason. That is where the Optimization Roadmap begins.

What rides on top of the rate

The base leaf is only part of the price. These are the rider elements in force for the small general service class as of September 1, 2026, per the Public Staff. Together they add 1.1845¢ to every kWh plus $8.36 a month in fixed charges. Values differ for LGS, Schedule I and OPT-V; we apply the column for your class and month.

Two fuel riders

Fuel Cost Adjustment at 0.4117¢ per kWh, plus a separate Quarterly Fuel Cost Adjustment at 0.3797¢. The quarterly rider is how the roughly $500 million in winter storm fuel and purchased power from early 2026 is being recovered over 19 months from June 1, 2026. It will be on bills through 2027.

DSM/EE and EDPR

Demand-side management and energy efficiency program costs at 0.5439¢ per kWh, the largest non-fuel rider, offset by a legacy DSM credit of 0.0011¢. Qualifying accounts can opt out of EE programs and the rider; we tell you if yours qualifies.

Storm securitization, twice

Two storm bond charges, 0.0102¢ and 0.0336¢ per kWh, recovering past storm costs through securitized bonds. Small, fixed by the bond schedule, and they should match every time.

Credits that run the other way

Nuclear Production Tax Credits return 0.1648¢ per kWh and Bulk Power Marketing returns 0.0085¢. A bill that is missing a credit is wrong in a way owners rarely catch, because nothing looks unusual.

CEPS and CAR

Fixed monthly charges, not per kWh: Clean Energy Portfolio Standard at $7.30 and the Customer Affordability Rider at $1.06 per agreement. Easy to verify, easy to miss when an account has several meters.

CPRE, ESM and PIM

Competitive Procurement of Renewable Energy at 0.0234¢, and the two performance-based regulation riders, Earnings Sharing at zero and Performance Incentive at 0.0002¢. These are the new mechanisms from Duke's multi-year rate plan, and they will be reset in the 2027 order.

The Duke Energy Carolinas landscape, as of this review

Securing your future means watching what the Commission and the utility are doing before it reaches your bill. This is what we are watching for Duke Energy Carolinas accounts right now.

  • Duke Energy Carolinas and the Public Staff filed a comprehensive settlement of the rate case opened November 20, 2025 (Docket E-7, Sub 1329): a $496 million increase over two years, a 9.8 percent return on equity, and Year 1 rates requested for January 1, 2027. Duke has put the overall increase at about 5.6 percent in 2027 and 3.7 percent in 2028 across all classes. The Attorney General did not sign. (Duke Energy SEC filing, Business North Carolina)
  • The Commission had not issued its order as of this review; Duke told investors it expects orders on both Carolinas rate cases by mid-November. Until the order is out, 2027 numbers are a settlement, not a rate. We reconstruct on the approved leaves the day they take effect. (NCUC proceedings, Duke Q3 call)
  • Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress combine into a single utility, with a targeted effective date of January 1, 2027 and projected net customer savings of about $2.3 billion from 2027 to 2040. Duke has not said when, or whether, the two companies' rate schedules will be unified. Your schedule name may outlive your utility's name; we track both. (Duke Energy)
  • Winter Storm fuel recovery began. Duke Energy Carolinas asked to recover about $500 million in fuel and purchased power from the January and February cold over 19 months rather than 12; the Commission approved it and it is on bills now. (Duke Energy, WRAL)
  • The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that regulators misapplied the law when they approved Duke Energy Carolinas' 2024 fuel rider. No refunds were ordered, because a 2025 change in state law would let Duke recover the same amount again. A reminder that the fuel line is where the money moves. (WRAL)
  • Duke, the Public Staff and others filed a large-load tariff settlement in the same dockets: customers of 50 MW and up with an 80 percent load factor, including data centers, must take service under a High Load Factor schedule with a 15-year minimum term for 100 MW and up and billing demand of at least 75 percent of contract demand. Whether it is enough to keep data-center costs off your bill is the question of the decade for this territory. (Settlement filing)
  • Annual rider update took effect: fuel, CEPS, CPRE and the quarterly fuel rider at the values shown above, with the DSM/EE rider resetting January 1, 2027. The EDIT-4 tax credit that reduced bills since 2023 is not among the rider elements in force. (NC Public Staff)

Reviewed by OptivAI on November 11, 2026. Tariff leaves and rider values are re-checked weekly against Duke Energy's published North Carolina leaves and the Commission's dockets; pending settlements are tracked separately from approved, effective rates.

Your Duke Energy Carolinas Energy Fingerprint

No two buildings bill alike, and an industry average is not your building. Over twelve cycles OptivAI builds your account's Energy Fingerprint from your Duke Energy Carolinas data and the facility profile you give us at onboarding: operating hours, major equipment, load drivers and goals. On Duke Energy Carolinas that means learning which 30-minute interval set 70 percent of your demand charge for the next twelve months, how your shape fits SGS, LGS or OPT-V, and how the January 1, 2027 settlement lands on your account.

An audit looks once. A Fingerprint learns. It is proprietary to your account, it lives in your portal, and it is the reason your Optimization Roadmap is specific to how your building runs instead of a list of generic tips.

Cycle 1Your first bill rebuilt and verified, your rate-plan verdict, and a Starting Roadmap. The Fingerprint begins.
Cycles 2–11Every cycle adds a season, a peak, a rider change. The portal shows your Fingerprint Progress and the Roadmap sharpens with it.
Month 12Your full Optimization Roadmap, prioritized by impact and specific to your account. Each item is labelled Projected until your Duke Energy Carolinas bill proves it.

Measured on the bill, not on a spreadsheet

Actual client, Alabama Power territory
23.2%

Bill reduction, $4,573 a month, verified on the utility bill. A commercial account on a closed schedule, exactly the kind of account where the right answer took a full reconstruction, not a rule of thumb. The same reconstruction runs on every Duke Energy Carolinas leaf.

Across 25 years of commercial energy work
10–20%

In rate and billing savings typically identified by these roadmaps. For your account it is Projected until your own Duke Energy Carolinas bill proves it, and we label it that way.

Duke Energy Carolinas questions we are asked

How do I know if my Duke Energy Carolinas commercial bill is correct?

OptivAI rebuilds each Duke Energy Carolinas bill from the filed North Carolina leaf for your schedule (SGS, LGS, OPT-V or Schedule I), applies every rider in force for that billing month, including the fuel and quarterly fuel riders, DSM/EE, CPRE, the two storm securitization charges, the BPM and nuclear production tax credits, and the CEPS and CAR monthly charges, checks the billing demand against the 70 percent twelve-month ratchet and the 30 kW floor, and compares the result line by line with what you were charged. Anything that does not reconstruct is flagged in plain language every cycle.

Am I on the right Duke Energy Carolinas rate plan for my business?

Every cycle OptivAI compares your actual usage and demand against the Duke Energy Carolinas schedules your account is eligible for and delivers a verdict: stay, or switch and why. Common questions are whether an account sitting just over 75 kW is paying LGS prices for SGS usage, whether a building with evening or overnight load would do better on OPT-V time-of-use, and whether a manufacturer is on Schedule I when it qualifies. Projected differences are labelled Projected until your own bill proves them.

What is the Duke Energy Carolinas demand ratchet?

On Schedules SGS, LGS and I, billing demand each month is the largest of four numbers: the maximum 30-minute demand in the current month, 70 percent of the maximum 30-minute demand in the previous twelve billing months, 50 percent of contract demand from the thirteenth month of service, and 30 kW. One peak can set 70 percent of what you pay for demand for a year. The first 30 kW of billing demand carries no charge; every kW above it is billed.

How will the January 1, 2027 Duke Energy Carolinas rate increase affect my business bill?

Duke Energy Carolinas filed its rate case on November 20, 2025 and reached a comprehensive settlement with the Public Staff and other parties on July 17, 2026 for a $496 million increase over two years, with Year 1 rates requested for January 1, 2027. Duke has described the overall increase as about 5.6 percent in 2027 and 3.7 percent in 2028 across all customer classes. The North Carolina Utilities Commission had not issued its order as of this review. OptivAI reconstructs bills on the approved leaves the day they take effect and shows the before-and-after on your account.

What is a Duke Energy Carolinas Energy Fingerprint?

Your Energy Fingerprint is OptivAI's 12-month model of how your Duke Energy Carolinas account uses and is billed for electricity, built month by month from your utility data and the facility profile you give us at onboarding. On Duke Energy Carolinas that means learning which 30-minute interval set 70 percent of your demand charge for the next twelve months, how your shape fits SGS, LGS or OPT-V, and how the January 1, 2027 settlement lands on your account. Your Starting Roadmap arrives in your first cycle and sharpens every month; at month 12 the Fingerprint becomes your full Optimization Roadmap, specific to your account and labelled Projected until your bill proves it.

How much does OptivAI cost for a Duke Energy Carolinas account?

$99 per utility account per month for one to five accounts, $89 per account at six or more, on a 12-month term billed monthly. No equipment, no installation, no shared-savings split. A Starting Roadmap in your first cycle and the full Optimization Roadmap at month 12.

Do you need my Duke Energy login?

No. You connect your account through a read-only utility connection or upload your bills. OptivAI never sees or stores a utility login.

Is it worth $99 to make sure your company's energy future is secure?

Verifying the present. Reducing your dependence. Securing your future.

$99per Duke Energy Carolinas account, per month

A dedicated AI Energy Expert on your account from the first cycle. Card, bank or invoice. No equipment, no contract to negotiate, and the savings belong to you.

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