Overview:
• Average residential customer to pay $2.15 more per month for electricity starting Sept. 1
• The PWC buys its power from Duke Energy Progress, then resells it to the PWC’s customers
• The price increase is to raise $10.6 million to cover higher-than-expected prices that the PWC paid Duke
Customers of the Fayetteville Public Works Commission will pay more for electricity service starting Sept. 1.
The PWC’s board voted 4-0 on Wednesday to increase a surcharge, called the Power Supply Adjustment, that is added to customers’ power bills. The average residential customer’s bill will rise by $2.15 per month, Jason Alban, the PWC’s director of financial planning, told the board.
The surcharge is to cover higher than expected prices that the PWC has been paying to purchase electricity from Duke Energy Progress, Alban said. The PWC, which is owned by the City of Fayetteville, buys most of its power from Duke and resells it to its customers in and around the city. Duke Energy Progress is a subsidiary of Duke Energy, and supplies electricity to much of North Carolina and South Carolina.
“Similar to last year, energy rates are almost 20% higher in the first half of 2025 than were projected and paid,” Alban told the PWC board.
The new surcharge is expected to generate $10.6 million of additional revenue for the PWC.
Prior to approving the price increase, the PWC held a public hearing to solicit public opinion on the plan. No one spoke, but two people had submitted written comments.
“As a resident who has PWC for all my utilities I must say that this increase will only continue to place a burden on my family,” said N. Spivey. “There are times when I have to decide if I pay my utility bill or put food on the table.”
“While I do not enjoy paying any more on my PWC bill than I have to, I realize that the utility business is just that, a business, and that there are costs that are associated with doing business,” wrote R. Gaskell. They said they are certain the PWC cannot afford to absorb higher costs from Duke Energy Progress. “Therefore, I appreciate the Board’s consideration of this matter and offer my support to go ahead with approval of the increase.”
As of summer 2024, the PWC supplied electricity to 86,371 homes, businesses and other customers.
The Power Supply Adjustment is set annually. The new surcharge is 0.541 cents per kilowatt hour of usage. If a customer consumes 1,000 kilowatt hours in a month, the surcharge on the customer’s bill will be $5.41, or nearly $65 per year.
For this past year, the surcharge has been 0.327 cents per kilowatt hour. This was a decline from the prior year, when it was 0.635 cents per kilowatt hour.
The 0.541-cent surcharge is added to the PWC rates. For example, residential customer rates are around 9.21 cents per kilowatt hour during off-peak times, and 14.13 cents per kilowatt hour in on-peak times. With the surcharge added, the total residential rates are around 9.75 cents per kilowatt hour off-peak, and 14.67 cents on-peak.
In the event that the PWC’s cost of buying power from Duke Energy Progress is less than it budgeted for, the Power Supply Adjustment will be a credit that lowers the customers’ bills, the PWC website says.
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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