Keeping the lights on is a top priority for every North Carolina household, but as energy costs keep climbing, more families are falling behind. Since January 2025, the average electricity prices in North Carolina have jumped by 28%, 10% higher than the national average. 

Now, as the 5th hottest summer on record ends and the attention turns to winter and heating costs, Duke Energy, the state’s largest utility, is asking regulators to raise rates yet again. The utility has requested a two-year rate hike that will amount to approximately 9.8% in additional costs on households that are already feeling the squeeze. 

As regulators continue to weigh the request, there have been questions about how rates got so high in the first place. Some are looking at Michael Whatley for answers. 

Whatley, the former North Carolina and national Republican Party Chairman, previously spent more than a decade as a lobbyist for oil, gas, and utility companies. That includes between 2008 and 2019 when he served the Executive Vice President for Consumer Energy Alliance, an industry group that counted Duke Energy as a client.  

During his time with Consumer Energy Alliance, Whatley played a key role in advocating for utility rate increases and also worked to pass clean up costs from Duke Energy’s 2014 Dan River coal ash spill onto consumers. That cleanup added $232 million to customers’ bills.

Although he left the Consumer Energy Alliance in 2019, his connection to utilities like Duke Energy remains. His family still has a vested interest in the company, with a recent financial disclosure revealing that he holds between $150,000 and $410,000 worth of Duke Energy stock. 

As Duke Energy looks to once again raise rates, consumers are left wondering just how high they could go and how much more their monthly bill could be.