As The News & Observer reported on August 25, Duke Energy Carolinas is attempting to increase electricity rates by 16.7 percent for residential customers. The $311 million from this rate increase would not fund an improved utilities infrastructure; instead, it  would reimburse Duke for their to-date efforts to clean up the poisonous coal ash that they carelessly dumped in North Carolina for years.

Since many investor-owned utilities like Duke are natural monopolies, regulators must evaluate the rates that such companies are allowed to charge. First, regulators determine a rate base, which is meant to cover Duke’s investments in power infrastructure, as well as daily maintenance and operational costs. Second, regulators determine a fair amount of return Duke should earn on its investments. Together, these sums make up the revenue requirement that utilities monopolies are permitted to demand.

Money to reverse the effects of reckless coal ash pollution fits into neither part of the revenue requirement. The rate base ought to cover the investments that Duke did make for reliable power infrastructure, rather than the ones it should have made. And given that Duke never invested in reasonable and safe methods for coal ash disposal, it doesn’t follow that they should be earning returns, or even recovery, on environmental compliance costs.

It’s risky to participate in a capitalist market. Duke and its shareholders took a risk by dumping toxic waste irresponsibly, and that risk backfired. Customers should bear no part of the $2.5 billion that it will cost Duke to clean up coal ash over the next 40 years; rather, the company and its shareholders should accept cleanup costs as a consequence of their own negligent management.

Many NCSU students are or will become Duke customers. As millennials, we will be paying rates and living next to coal ash ponds for far longer than anyone on the NC Utilities Commission or Duke’s executive board, so it’s important for us to advocate for fair prices and prudent pollution control. If we don’t actively resist the unreasonable demands of powerful corporations like Duke, we’re setting ourselves up for an expensive and miserable future.

I encourage all Duke Energy customers to attend the rate hike hearing in Raleigh on September 25, when the North Carolina Utilities Commission will be accepting public comments on the price increase. For details on the hearing, follow The Climate Reality Project on climaterealityncsu.wordpress.com and social media.