Duke Energy Carolinas Electricity Rates: What Homes Pay per kWh

Duke Energy Carolinas is one of the cheapest big utilities in the country per kWh, 39th dearest of the 40 largest. Its bills are less of a bargain, because its homes use a lot of power: $142 a month for 1,012 kWh, against $158 for the average US home. So the size of the home and how it is heated and cooled count for a lot. Two more rises are on the table; see the rate case.

Every month since 1990

Over the long run this price has risen more slowly than prices generally: it is up 98.2% since 1990, and all prices are up 153.1%. Adjusted for inflation, a kWh costs less than it did in 1990. The 7.1¢ of that year is 17.9¢ today, and homes now pay 14.0¢. Recently it has moved faster: it is up 31.8% since 2020.

Against inflation

Year by year

North Carolina and South Carolina

The utility bills under separate schedules in each state, so the two can drift apart.

Through the year

There are two peaks a year, in summer and in winter. The highest month on average is July at $182, the lowest October at $105.

Average for each calendar month over the last 36 months EIA has published: bill per home, with the price per kWh that month beneath it.

Price or use?

Other utilities nearby

EIA-861, 2025, homes buying their power from the utility itself. A year’s average, so the figure for this utility can differ a little from the 12 months above.

Where it serves

EIA-861 Service Territory, 2025. A county on the list may be served only in part, and other utilities may serve the same county.

Outages

In 2025 the average customer was without power for 217 minutes. The highest since EIA’s figures begin in 2013, 3,063 minutes in 2024, is the year Hurricane Helene tore through western North Carolina.

Rooftop solar

39,946 homes had net-metered solar at the end of 2025, or 1.6%: a small share next to California’s.

EIA-861 Net Metering: homes with solar panels on a net-metering arrangement at the end of each year.

The official tariff

The energy charge on the schedule is below the 14.0¢ average because riders and the fixed charge come on top.

Fixed monthly charge: North Carolina Schedule RS: Basic Customer Charge $14.00 a month.

South Carolina homes are billed under a separate South Carolina schedule, not shown here.

Checked by hand against the utility’s own documents on 9 November 2026. All Duke Energy Carolinas rate schedules.

Rate changes in front of the regulator

• Settlement reported July 2026, not approved when last checked: A settlement in Duke Energy Carolinas’ North Carolina rate case would raise residential rates 5.9% in 2027 and 3.6% in 2028, with a return on equity of 9.8% against the 10.95% requested. It needs Utilities Commission approval, and not every party signed. WFAE, 20 July 2026.

Related

• All 40 of the biggest US utilities compared
• North Carolina electricity rates: every utility and the state trend
• South Carolina electricity rates: every utility and the state trend
• Average electric bill by state
• Solar panel calculator

How these figures are made

The price is what homes paid the utility in a period, divided by the kWh they bought. It includes every charge the utility bills: energy, delivery, fixed charges, riders and credits. It does not match any one rate on a tariff, and it leaves out homes that buy their power from someone else. The 12-month figures sum revenue and kWh over the months EIA has published. The bill and kWh use the middle month’s customer count, so a one-month slip in EIA’s customer figure cannot move them. We never edit a month EIA published, and the latest months are preliminary until EIA finalises them.

Frequently asked questions

Download the data

• Duke Energy Carolinas, every month (CSV)
• All 40 utilities, latest figures (CSV)
• Citable archive on Zenodo (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.24071582): all 40 utilities, with field descriptions
• Dataset, code and history on GitHub

How to cite this page

@dataset{say2026dukeenergycaroli,
  author    = {Say, Jeremiah},
  title     = {Duke Energy Carolinas electricity rates: monthly residential price since 1990},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {GreenCalculus},
  doi       = {10.5281/zenodo.24071582},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24071582}
}

Version history

• 1.1 (9 November 2026): the dataset is archived with a DOI (Zenodo) and on GitHub under CC BY 4.0; added BibTeX.
• 1.0 (November 2026): first published.