The North Carolina General Assembly’s vote to override Governor Stein’s veto of Senate Bill 266 is a major setback for North Carolina households, clean energy progress, and climate leadership. Despite warnings from economists, energy experts, and everyday residents, the General Assembly chose to make law a bill that will raise customer energy costs and shift billions in risk and cost from utilities and larger commercial and industrial users onto families and small businesses — at a time when energy bills are already straining household budgets.
And there’s no mistaking where the blame for this new law and its damaging effects lies: squarely on the shoulders of the powerful utility, Duke Energy, that pushed it and the legislators who caved to Duke’s demands. As quoted in a WRAL story when the veto override vote passed both chambers, I summed it up by saying, “When your power bill goes up next year, remember this vote and the legislators who shifted risk and cost onto households.”
There’s no way around it. Senate Bill 266, which will now become law, has been a flawed approach from the start. It’s bad for customers and bad for the environment.
