In North Carolina, tech giants and other large corporations that want their own 24/7 carbon-free electricity have a problem. Across most of the state, only Duke Energy, the state’s vertically integrated utility, can sell them power, and the company’s grid isn’t required to be 100% clean until mid-century.
For the better part of this decade, Google and other companies have been pushing for a “clean transition tariff” as a solution. The scheme would allow the large customers to pay a premium for new, zero-carbon energy, using Duke as a go-between.
The idea has virtually no opponents, yet Duke has done little to make it a reality. Now, the company says, that’s about to change.
In a statement to Canary Media, Duke said it would start negotiations on a clean transition tariff early next year. The company said the tariff should build on an existing suite of Duke programs called Green Source Advantage that lets large energy users chip in for already-underway renewable energy projects.
“We continue to be open to a clean transition tariff, over and above our current Green Source Advantage offerings,” Duke spokesperson Bill Norton said. “We will seek to engage stakeholders in early 2027 to explore gaps in the current offerings and potential new features and options.”
Norton said that the plans for a stakeholder discussion were “definite.” While the statement doesn’t carry the weight of a state policy, it marks the most concrete progress toward a clean transition tariff in North Carolina in years.
In the spring of 2024, Duke announced its intention to pursue such a plan with major tech firms and steel company Nucor but never followed through. Earlier this year, the company said it would evaluate the tariff “in good faith,” but made no promises.
Today the need for a clean transition tariff is more acute than ever. Like many utilities around the country, Duke projects surging energy demand from voracious data centers, and wants to raise electric rates and build a spate of new fossil-fuel plants in part to serve the facilities.
Large load tariffs are gaining traction across the U.S. as a way to protect consumers against this massive buildout. In general, they require data centers and other large energy users to commit to paying for a minimum amount of power, and some include bring-your-own-clean-energy provisions.
Such provisions don’t just advance climate goals, advocates say. They also help ensure household customers don’t end up footing the bill for expensive fossil fuel infrastructure for data centers that don’t pan out or that leave the state early.
“So much of the talk around a large load tariff is, rightly, ‘how do we protect customers from stranded-asset risk?’” said David Neal, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center and a key proponent of a clean transition tariff.
Allowing companies to pay for their own clean energy goes a long way in protecting consumers against risk, he said. “Making it easy for those customers to both fulfill their corporate clean energy and climate goals and help protect ratepayers: It’s just a win-win for everybody.”