RALEIGH — Attorney General Jeff Jackson is asking the North Carolina Utilities Commission to put data centers — and other exceptionally large power users — into their own Duke Energy rate class, arguing that households and smaller businesses should not bankroll the generation and transmission built mainly to feed those loads.
The proposal was filed in Duke’s pending rate cases as part of a process the commission opened after Jackson’s office sought a separate look at large-load strain on the grid. Jackson says a dedicated rate class would put data centers on the same rules, make those rules public, and keep the costs and risks of serving massive new loads from landing on residential customers.
“Duke Energy is onboarding an unprecedented number of data centers without a clear plan on how to protect ratepayers from higher rates and unacceptable risk,” Jackson said in a Sept. 14 statement from his office. “These data centers are upending our energy system, and we need to know that the Utilities Commission is making sure data centers pay for the strain they put on the grid and don’t unfairly burden ratepayers.”
Why it matters for the bill
Data centers that power AI, cloud computing, and other digital services can draw enormous amounts of electricity around the clock. Utilities often have to plan plants and grid upgrades years before that demand shows up. If a project is delayed, canceled, or uses less power than forecast, regulators still have to decide who eats the stranded cost.
Jackson’s office notes that in Duke’s Carbon Plan case, the utility projected that about 80% of the new energy demand it expects to meet would come from data centers and other large users — and has proposed new generation and transmission to serve that growth. Jackson argues that without clearer guardrails, other customers could see higher rates and bear risk if the projections overshoot.
Duke has pushed back on the idea that existing customers are left exposed. The Charlotte-based utility has said data-center growth could produce long-term savings for current customers as revenue from large new loads helps pay for generation and grid investment. Duke’s Customer Protection Plus framework points to customer-funded connection costs, upfront financial security, termination charges, and temporary curtailment for large new loads. President and CEO Harry Sideris has said the company wants data centers to “not only pay their fair share but also yield savings for our existing customers.”
Jackson wants regulators to go further than Duke’s existing large-load tools.
What else Jackson wants
Alongside the rate-class ask, Jackson’s proposed order in the Carbon Plan proceeding calls for:
- Making public the template contracts Duke uses with data centers and other large energy users
- Regular reports when individual deals differ from those templates
- Updating electricity load forecasts every 90 days instead of every six months
- Pausing development of new natural gas plants while regulators evaluate recent changes Duke made to its projected demand
He is also pressing Duke to legally commit — not only verbally — to the federal Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which is meant to ensure large users build, bring, or buy the generation they need and pay for delivery upgrades to serve them.
Separately, Jackson has declined to join settlements in Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress rate cases, saying the remaining increases are still too high. Duke says continued investment is needed for reliability and growing demand statewide.
Catawba angle
Catawba County’s data-center and power debate is already local politics — rates, water, land, and who pays. Catawba First News covered that fight in The AI doomsday script is an old fear campaign in a new suit. Jackson’s rate-class filing is the statewide version of the same question: whether AI-era megawatts get their own bill, or whether the rest of the system absorbs the bet.
The Utilities Commission will decide what rates Duke may charge, what it may build, and what protections existing customers get. Jackson says he will keep fighting to keep households off the hook for infrastructure they did not order.
Sources: North Carolina Department of Justice / Attorney General Jeff Jackson release, Sept. 14, 2026; North State Journal reporting (Sept. 19, 2026); Duke Energy statements as reported in same coverage; prior Catawba First News data-center opinion.
