Duke Energy faces rate hike pushback
Earlier this year, Duke announced a capital spending plan of $103 billion, which company officials called the largest investment on file at any regulated U.S. utility. Now Duke is under pressure from ratepayers and regulators to justify that spending as it seeks to dramatically increase residential rates.
Duke Energy argued the infrastructure plan is driven primarily by soaring electricity demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and advanced manufacturing. Arguments in favor of the plan emphasize meeting this unprecedented regional load growth, modernizing the power grid for better reliability, and shifting infrastructure risks away from existing residential customers
As a consequence of this investment, Duke requested an 18 percent residential rate increase.
However at a recent hearing, a confidential internal memo was placed into the public record that contained a chart showing that Duke estimates "about 98 percent of those identified financial benefits from the infrastructure improvements will accrue to commercial and industrial rather than residential customers.
Duke then lowered its residential rate increase request to 11.6 percent.
Recent heatwave cause power prices to skyrocket
The recent nationwide heat wave caused wholesale power prices to skyrocket as increased cooling demands strained U.S. power grids.
For example, in the PJM region which spans from New York to Chicago, real-time prices in some zones reached nearly $990 per megawatt-hour, with certain hourly spikes exceeding $1,200. To balance the system, grid operators paid up to $28,000 per megawatt-hour or about $2.80 per kWH in some constrained areas.
For a sense of context, Nationally, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts wholesale electricity prices generally average about $45 per megawatt-hour (MWh) (or 4.5 cents per kilowatt-hour).
Higher wholesale electricity prices during heat waves mean significantly larger utility bills for residential customers. Households face a "double whammy": they must use more electricity to cool their homes while simultaneously paying higher per-kilowatt-hour rates, as utilities pass increased grid and supply costs onto consumers
Big Beautiful Bill cost US nearly 500,000 clean energy jobs
The Trump administration's One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) has cost the country nearly half a million jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy investments and tax revenue since it was signed into law last year, according to a recent analysis published by the environmental business group E2. These policy rollbacks caused private companies to cancel, close, or downsize over 200 large-scale renewable projects.
The study estimates about 125,000 short-term construction jobs were not created due to abandoned facility and power plant construction. An additional 343,000 long-term operation and maintenance jobs were also not created because manufacturing plants and energy sites were not built.
The report states that over $100 billion in potential investment was lost from projects that ceased development or were reduced in scope. Cancelled projects alone represent $68 billion in lost investment, plus an additional $48 billion in operational investments, according to the report.
Another study by MIT echoes these findings, noting that about 30 percent of all renewable energy projects that would otherwise have been built have been cancelled due to shifts in federal energy policy under this administration.
Eaton, FranklinWH offer smart residential storage product
Power equipment company Eaton and home storage firm FranklinWH have announced a partnership to make new smart home energy systems available throughout North American. The new system combines Eaton's AbleEdge smart circuit breakers with the Franklin's battery storage system.
The new integration allows for home load management during peak hours, as well as extended backup power during a grid outage. Additionally, the AbleEdge smart breaker will be able to support virtual power plant (VPP) capabilities for eligible customers.
Eaton smart breakers can also be added to Franklin's Meter Adapter Controller, which allows homeowners with solar to go off grid during power outages.
New "storage as a service" product enters the market
Consumer energy platform Palmetto has announced the Energy Backup Plan, a standalone home battery subscription service. available to homeowners in 25 states.
The company contends that the subscription service can provide customers with resilience against severe weather and power interruptions without the traditional upfront cost of installing a battery system that is owned by the homeowner.
The program specifically targets the estimated 4 million U.S. rooftop solar owners that currently have no battery storage.
Palmetto says the Energy Backup Plan is a $0-down lease with monthly payments over a 12-year term that cover installation, system monitoring and ongoing maintenance. Initial pricing will be about $98 per month.
Standalone energy storage subscriptions from companies like Base Power, Lunar Energy/Octopus Energy and Solrite have become popular in areas of Texas, where the deregulated market allows the systems' third-party owners to generate revenue by aggregating the power output and energy storage capacity of their fleets of batteries to operate as a virtual power plant.
Enphase debuts smart thermostat
And in other news of products designed to manage load and integrate into virtual power plants, Enphase Energy announced it will soon release IQ Air, a smart thermostat with an in-home power display that in addition to temperature controls, will display solar production, battery performance and home power use.
IQ Air is designed to optimize HVAC operation with awareness of solar production, battery state of charge, time-of-use rates, weather forecasts and virtual power plant events.
The IQ Air smart thermostat is available for pre-order online retailing for $599. Shipments expected to begin in August of this year.