Protesters demonstrate against proposed Duke rate hikeJun 20 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - John Hinton Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.
About 50 people protested Wednesday against the proposed Duke Energy rate hike, saying that the utility company's plan will hurt elderly and poor residents who cannot afford to pay higher power bills, and will continue the company's harmful effects on the environment. The demonstrators read speeches and sang songs against the proposal at their rally in front of the Forsyth County Hall of Justice on North Main Street. About 45 minutes after the rally ended, the N.C. Utilities Commission held a public hearing inside the courthouse on Duke's rate-hike proposal. Several protesters, called the Raging Grannies, sang about their disgust with the measure. "The bosses at Duke Energy grow richer every day," the group sang. "They're raking in the millions and they now want us to pay. They got a rate hike last year and they'll get one next year, too. That's a thirty percent increase that they want from me and you." Earlier this month, Duke Energy Carolinas, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, struck a deal with N.C. Utilities Commission's Public Staff, which is responsible for representing consumers, that would let it raise rates by about 5 percent in its service area. Duke Energy Carolinas, which has about 1.9 million customers, originally requested a $446 million annual rate increase, or an average 9.7 percent for households and other retail customers. The settlement must be approved by the utilities commission, which has scheduled a meeting for July 8. The regulator and Duke Energy Carolinas employees will hear public comment June 26 in Charlotte and July 2 in Hillsborough. Previous public hearings were held in Franklin and Marion. "The company looks forward to a positive and constructive resolution in this rate case," Duke Energy said in a statement. Duke Energy, the corporate parent of both Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress, has defended its rate-increase requests as allowing it to recover billions of dollars invested in upgrading its ability to generate power and complying with state and federal environmental regulations. At the courthouse rally, protesters held signs such as "Affordable Energy is a Right" and "Not One More Dime, Duke." Tony Ndege, a member of Occupy Winston-Salem, told the demonstrators that every resident has a right to inexpensive, environmentally safe energy. "Our rights stand in the way of their profits," he said. Kim Porter of Winston-Salem, a member of the N.C. Waste Awareness Reduction Network (WARN), said that North Carolinians will not compromise their health and safety "so Duke can make outrageous profits." The company will use the money from the rate increase to pay for its new plants that "we don't need and we don't want," Porter said. At the utilities commission's public hearing, Glenn Harris, a Duke Energy manager at its Dan River Combined Cycle Station in Eden, didn't address the protesters' concerns, but he said that the commission should approve the rate increase so the company can continue to deliver reliable energy to its customers. Ernest Lankford of Danbury, the chairman of the Stokes County Board of Commissioners, said at the hearing that the commission should reject the company's proposal. "The rate increase, if approved, will hurt the people of North Carolina," Lankford said. "North Carolina has the fifth-highest unemployment rate in this nation. Many people in my county are at a breaking point." jhinton@wsjournal.com (336) 727-7299 The Associated Press contributed to this story http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=29042169 |