Duke Energy Progress · North Carolina commercial accounts

Is your Duke Energy Progress commercial bill right?

Duke Energy Progress changes three times in 31 days. New rider rates on December 1. A rate-case order due any day, with new rates January 1, 2027. And on that same day the company itself is scheduled to combine with Duke Energy Carolinas. One rider on your bill is proposed to nearly triple. 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 Progress North Carolina leaves effective October 1, 2025 and rider elements in force September 1, 2026. Last reviewed by OptivAI on November 11, 2026.

The two questions every Duke Energy Progress business owner eventually types

1. Is my Duke Energy Progress bill right?

A Duke Energy Progress commercial bill has a short list of base charges and a long tail of riders. On the small general service class, eleven separate rider elements were in force on September 1, 2026, from two fuel riders to two storm securitization charges to a $10.08 monthly clean energy charge that is nothing to do with how much power you used. Above 30 kW the demand you pay for is a billing demand, not what you used, set by a 70 percent eleven-month ratchet measured in 15-minute intervals. And the whole rider stack resets every December 1, so a November bill and a December bill for the same building should never match.

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 contract-demand minimum, 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 Progress rate plan?

Your schedule follows your demand. SGS is energy-only and priced in tiers, but register 35 kW in any two months of a year, or 50 kW once, and you leave it for MGS and start paying $6.23 for every kW of billing demand. Cross 1,000 kW and you are on LGS, with a 1,000 kW floor whether you used it or not. Large accounts can elect LGS-TOU, where on-peak demand is cheap and mid-peak demand is where the money is, so the hours you run decide whether it wins. And the contract demand you signed years ago still sets a 75 percent minimum until you actually hit 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 Progress rate schedules we read

These are the North Carolina commercial schedules in OptivAI's Duke Energy Progress tariff catalog, read from Duke's published leaves effective October 1, 2025 (NCUC Docket E-2, Sub 1300). Lighting, EV, net metering, real-time pricing, economic development riders and South Carolina accounts are reviewed account by account.

ScheduleWho it is forWhat we watch
SGSSmall General Service (Leaf 520). Contract demand under 30 kW. $22.00 customer charge, three-phase adds $9.00; no demand charge; energy at 13.188¢ for the first 750 kWh, 11.166¢ for the next 1,250 kWh, 10.616¢ above 2,000 kWh.Whether registered demand has hit 35 kW in two of twelve months or 50 kW once, which ends SGS eligibility; the eleven rider elements that ride on every kWh; the $10.08 CEPS and $1.12 CAR monthly charges.
MGSMedium General Service (Leaf 524). Demand of 30 kW up to 1,000 kW. $30.00 customer charge, three-phase adds $9.00; $6.23 per kW of billing demand; energy at 7.719¢ for all kWh.Billing demand: this month's 15-minute peak, 70% of the eleven-month peak, or 75% of contract demand, whichever is greatest. The jump from SGS to MGS is the moment most owners never see coming.
LGSLarge General Service (Leaf 532). Contract or registered demand of 1,000 kW and up. $210.00 customer charge; $15.48 per kW for the first 5,000 kW of billing demand, $14.48 for the next 5,000, $13.48 above 10,000; energy at 4.674¢; minimum bill carries 1,000 kW.The 1,000 kW floor, the 70% and 75% minimums, the power factor adjustment below 85% ($0.32 per excess kVAr), and the transformation discount if you own your step-down transformer.
LGS-TOULarge General Service, Time-of-Use (Leaf 533). Voluntary for accounts of 1,000 kW and up. $210.00 customer charge; on-peak demand $6.65 per kW, mid-peak demand $14.73 per kW for the first 5,000 kW (then $13.91 and $13.10), base demand $1.82; energy at 6.226¢ on-peak, 3.311¢ off-peak, 2.531¢ discount.Mid-peak demand is the big number, and the mid-peak window is wide. We model twelve real months of interval data before recommending it; a building that runs flat all day usually should not.
LGS-HLFLarge General Service, High Load Factor (Leaf 536). The schedule Duke requires for new large loads under the October 2026 large-load settlement. $210.00 customer charge; $29.55 per kW; energy at 2.592¢; billing demand at least 75% of contract demand.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, $272.84; an MGS account at 50 kW and 18,000 kWh, $2,090.01; an MGS account at 100 kW and 36,000 kWh, $4,071.65; an LGS account at 1,250 kW and 450,000 kWh, $50,853.37. If your statement for a comparable month is far from these, that is the first thing we look at.

Billing demand: why fifteen minutes in August is still on your bill next June

On Schedules MGS and LGS, the kW you pay for is the greatest of three numbers, and on LGS a fourth. Duke Energy Progress meters demand in 15-minute intervals, half the width of Duke Energy Carolinas' 30-minute window, so a short start-up spike that would average out elsewhere counts in full here. A single interval can set 70 percent of your demand charge for the next eleven months. The bill shows one figure and does not say which rule produced it.

ActualThis month's highest 15-minute demand.
70%Of the highest 15-minute demand in the preceding eleven billing months.
75%Of your contract demand, until billing demand first equals or exceeds it.
1,000 kWThe floor on LGS. The minimum bill carries 1,000 kW whether you used it or not.

Two more things ride on the demand figure. On LGS, if your power factor in the month falls below 85 percent, Duke adds $0.32 for every reactive kVAr above 62 percent of your kW demand. And the contract demand in your service agreement, often set when the building was built or last expanded, keeps a 75 percent minimum in force until you actually reach it. 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 1.300¢ to every kWh plus $11.20 a month in fixed charges. Values differ for MGS, LGS and LGS-TOU; we apply the column for your class and month, and most of them reset on December 1.

Two fuel riders

A Fuel Adjustment of −0.007¢ per kWh relative to the fuel already in the base rate, plus a separate Quarterly Fuel Cost Adjustment (BA-Q) at 0.588¢. The quarterly rider is how roughly $309 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.

Joint Agency Asset Rider

JAAR at 0.223¢ per kWh recovers the cost of generating assets Duke Energy Progress bought from the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency in 2015. A rider unique to Progress territory, and one Duke has proposed to raise 39 percent for medium general service on December 1.

DSM/EE

Demand-side management and energy efficiency program costs at 0.240¢ per kWh today. Duke has proposed 0.7154¢ for all three commercial classes from January 1, 2027, a 198 percent increase. Qualifying accounts can opt out of EE programs and the rider; we tell you if yours qualifies.

Storm securitization, twice

Two storm bond charges, 0.147¢ and 0.111¢ per kWh, recovering past storm costs through securitized bonds. Fixed by the bond schedule, and they should match every time.

CEPS and CAR

Fixed monthly charges, not per kWh: Clean Energy Portfolio Standard at $10.08 per commercial customer and the Customer Affordability Rider at $1.12. Easy to verify, easy to miss when an account has several meters. Industrial accounts pay a far higher CEPS charge.

CPRE and ESM

Competitive Procurement of Renewable Energy at 0.010¢ per kWh and the Earnings Sharing Mechanism at −0.012¢, the credit from Duke's performance-based regulation. These and the Performance Incentive Mechanism rider will be reset in the 2027 rate order.

The Duke Energy Progress landscape, as of this review

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

  • Duke Energy Progress, the Public Staff, the Carolina Industrial Group for Fair Utility Rates, the Carolina Utility Customers Association, NCSEA and Walmart filed a comprehensive settlement of the rate case opened November 20, 2025 (Docket E-2, Sub 1380): a $338 million increase over two years, a 9.8 percent return on equity, and Year 1 rates requested for January 1, 2027. Duke has described it as an average increase of 3.4 percent a year over two years. The Attorney General did not sign and puts the two-year residential figure near 9.3 percent. (Duke Energy, WRAL, WITN)
  • 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, and the commercial class split is unknown. We reconstruct on the approved leaves the day they take effect. (NCUC proceedings, Duke Q3 call)
  • Annual rider reset. Duke Energy Progress asked the Commission (Dockets E-2, Subs 1397 to 1401) for a fuel rider of 2.9825¢ per kWh for small general service, 2.9925¢ for medium and 2.5414¢ for large general service, a JAAR of 0.2242¢, 0.5716¢ and 0.9357¢ respectively, a commercial CEPS charge of $9.84 a month, and from January 1, 2027 a DSM/EE rider of 0.7154¢ for all three commercial classes, up 198 percent. Hearing was held September 15; the approved values were not yet posted as of this review. (Public notice)
  • 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 Progress asked to recover about $309 million in fuel and purchased power from the January and February cold over 19 months rather than 12, about $7.88 a month for a typical home; the Commission approved it and it is on bills now through the quarterly fuel rider. (Duke Energy)
  • The North Carolina Court of Appeals reversed the Commission's approval of Duke Energy Progress' 2024 fuel rider (Docket E-2, Sub 1341) on the same reasoning as the companion Duke Energy Carolinas case. No refunds followed, because a 2025 change in state law lets Duke recover the same costs again. A reminder that the fuel line is where the money moves. (N.C. Court of Appeals, WRAL)
  • Duke, the Public Staff and others filed a large-load tariff settlement: 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)

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 and proposed rider values are tracked separately from approved, effective rates.

Your Duke Energy Progress 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 Progress data and the facility profile you give us at onboarding: operating hours, major equipment, load drivers and goals. On Duke Energy Progress that means learning which 15-minute interval set 70 percent of your demand charge for the next eleven months, where your billing demand sits against the 75 percent contract-demand minimum, whether MGS, LGS or LGS-TOU fits, and what the December 1 rider reset does to your bill each year.

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 Progress 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 Progress schedule.

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 Progress bill proves it, and we label it that way.

Duke Energy Progress questions we are asked

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

OptivAI rebuilds each Duke Energy Progress bill from the filed North Carolina leaf for your schedule (SGS, MGS, LGS, LGS-TOU or LGS-HLF), applies every rider in force for that billing month, including the fuel adjustment and the quarterly fuel rider, DSM/EE, the Joint Agency Asset Rider, CPRE, ESM, the two storm securitization charges and the CEPS and CAR monthly charges, checks the billing demand against the 70 percent eleven-month ratchet and the 75 percent contract-demand minimum, 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 Progress rate plan for my business?

Every cycle OptivAI compares your actual usage and demand against the Duke Energy Progress schedules your account is eligible for and delivers a verdict: stay, or switch and why. Common questions are whether an account that crossed 35 kW twice in a year has been moved from energy-only SGS to demand-billed MGS without anyone noticing, whether a large account with evening or overnight load would do better on LGS-TOU, and whether a 1,000 kW account is carrying a contract demand far above what it uses. Projected differences are labelled Projected until your own bill proves them.

What is the Duke Energy Progress demand ratchet?

On Schedule MGS, billing demand each month is the greatest of three numbers: the maximum 15-minute demand in the current month, 70 percent of the maximum 15-minute demand in the preceding eleven billing months, and 75 percent of contract demand until billing demand first reaches contract demand. Schedule LGS adds a 1,000 kW floor and a power factor adjustment below 85 percent. One peak can set 70 percent of what you pay for demand for nearly a year, and Duke Energy Progress measures it in 15-minute intervals, twice as fine as Duke Energy Carolinas.

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

Duke Energy Progress filed its rate case on November 20, 2025 (NCUC Docket E-2, Sub 1380) and reached a comprehensive settlement with the Public Staff and other parties on August 5, 2026 for a $338 million increase over two years, an average of about 3.4 percent a year, with Year 1 rates requested for January 1, 2027. The Attorney General did not sign. The North Carolina Utilities Commission had not issued its order as of this review, so class-by-class commercial impacts are not yet known. OptivAI reconstructs bills on the approved leaves the day they take effect and shows the before-and-after on your account.

What changes on Duke Energy Progress bills on December 1, 2026?

Duke Energy Progress resets its annual riders on December 1 each year. For the December 1, 2026 to November 30, 2027 period Duke proposed a fuel rider of 2.9825 cents per kWh for small general service, 2.9925 cents for medium general service and 2.5414 cents for large general service, a CEPS charge of $9.84 per commercial customer per month, and, from January 1, 2027, a DSM/EE rider of 0.7154 cents per kWh for all three commercial classes, a 198 percent increase. These are proposed values pending the Commission's order; OptivAI applies the approved values the month they take effect.

What is a Duke Energy Progress Energy Fingerprint?

Your Energy Fingerprint is OptivAI's 12-month model of how your Duke Energy Progress 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 Progress that means learning which 15-minute interval set 70 percent of your demand charge for the next eleven months, where your billing demand sits against the 75 percent contract-demand minimum, whether MGS, LGS or LGS-TOU fits, and what the December 1 rider reset does to your bill each year. 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 Progress 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 Progress 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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