RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Attorney General Roy Cooper is asking the N.C. Supreme Court to intervene once again on behalf of consumers in light of a decision to restore a rate increase sought by Duke Energy.
Cooper filed a brief late Thursday. He said the court has already ruled once that consumers must be considered when setting utility profits, but it still hasn’t happened. He said when a second chance to get it right arose, the commission didn’t consider consumers and approved the same rate increase.
The court reversed a commission decision to grant the rate increase and told it to look at the case again. The commission declined to hear new evidence and granted Duke Energy a 7.2 percent rate increase for customers and a 10.5 percent return on equity for shareholders.
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