Index-Journal: Duke official: Regulators ‘spit in our face’ with ruling
“Duke Energy has suffered the results of an absolute perfect storm. Two years ago, we should’ve gone in for the third step in a three-step rate case, that was our plan,” Lane said. “The environment in the utility industry that was created by the mess at SCANA and being followed up by Santee Cooper created such a toxic environment in South Carolina that we just said, ‘Not time to go into that last year.’”
Instead, Duke waited until October to make their plans known, asking the state’s Public Service Commission to approve a two-tiered rate adjustment that would have added $15.57 more a month for users that consume 1,000 kilowatt-hours of power to yield a 10.5% return on equity (ROE) for investors — up from the current rate of 10.2%.