Duke Energy Progress customers in South Carolina will see bills go down beginning July 1

- Decrease in fuel costs will reduce a typical residential customer's monthly bill by $4.11

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Jul 01, 2020, 10:29 ET

GREENVILLE, S.C., July 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy Progress customers in South Carolina will see a decrease in monthly bills beginning in July as part of an annual adjustment of the actual cost of fuel used to generate electricity at its power plants.

Duke Energy Progress serves about 170,000 customers in the northeastern part of South Carolina, including Darlington, Florence and Sumter counties.

Beginning July 1, a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per month will see bills decrease from the current $124.98 to $120.87, a decrease of $4.11, or 3.3 percent.

Commercial customers will see an average decrease in their bills of about 1.6 percent, and industrial customers will receive an average decrease of about 2.9 percent.

The primary reason for the overall decrease in rates is the decreasing price of natural gas.

Duke Energy Progress makes a fuel cost recovery filing annually with the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSCSC). The fuel rate is based on the projected cost of fuel used to provide electric service to the company's customers, plus a true-up of the prior year's projection. By law, the company makes no profit from the fuel component of rates.

The PSCSC reviews fuel costs and adjusts the fuel component of customer rates accordingly. The company made its annual fuel filing April 27. The PSCSC held a hearing and approved the new rates in June.

Duke Energy Progress works to actively manage its fuel contracts to keep fuel costs as low as possible for customers. Savings achieved from the joint dispatch of Duke Energy's generation fleet in the Carolinas also help to minimize the company's fuel costs.

The decrease affects the bills of all Duke Energy Progress customers in South Carolina. The company's other South Carolina utility -- Duke Energy Carolinas -- will make its annual fuel filing July 30.

More help for customers

In March, Duke Energy announced it will not disconnect any customer's service for nonpayment, in order to give customers experiencing financial hardship extra time to make payments. The company has continued to read meters and send bills.

The company is also waiving late payment fees and fees for returned payments for its millions of electric and natural gas customers across its service territories until the national state of emergency is lifted.

Customers are encouraged to pay what they can to avoid building up a large balance that will be harder to pay off later. Customers can call Duke Energy to discuss their account or available options.

Customers can also seek assistance through the Energy Neighbor Fund.

For information on what Duke Energy is doing to assist customers and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit dukeenergyupdates.com.

Duke Energy Progress

Duke Energy Progress, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns nuclear, coal, natural gas, renewables and hydroelectric generation. That diverse fuel mix provides about 12,700 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 1.6 million customers in a 32,000-square-mile service area of North Carolina and South Carolina.

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 29,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities and 2,300 megawatts through its nonregulated Duke Energy Renewables unit.

Duke Energy is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing the energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit's regulated utilities serve 7.8 million retail electric customers in six states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to 1.6 million customers in five states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The Duke Energy Renewables unit operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., as well as energy storage and microgrid projects.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2020 "World's Most Admired Companies" list, and Forbes' "America's Best Employers" list. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

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SOURCE Duke Energy