Duke Energy Carolinas
The western and central Piedmont, including Charlotte, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Durham and Hickory. One of two separate Duke utilities in North Carolina with separate tariffs. Which one serves you is a matter of geography, and the annual credit forfeiture date differs between them.
- Type
- Investor owned
- Accounts
- 2.9M
What they credit you
Avoided cost, with a minimum bill underneath
Published termsNet exports are credited each month at the utility’s avoided cost rate rather than the retail rate, under riders the Utilities Commission approved in March 2023.
- Month to month
- Credits carry month to month; on the legacy rider they are forfeited annually.
Published terms · checked 2026-09-05 · source
Battery backup is mandatory
in Duke Carolinas territory.
Duke Carolinas does not credit the power you send back at the rate it charges you to take it.
That does not make solar a bad idea in Duke Carolinas territory. It changes what you should build. When exports are worth a fraction of retail the credit stops being the return, and the job becomes using more of your own production inside the house, which usually means a larger array than a one for one utility would need.
Sizing is where that gets decided, so ask about it directly. North Carolina sets system size through the Commission’s own Interconnection Procedures rather than a single statutory kilowatt figure, and the utility’s rider adds its own conditions on top. Duke Carolinas sets its own limits. Ask Duke Carolinas what it allows before you accept that a bigger system is off the table.
A battery then does two separate jobs. It moves daytime production into the evening so you use it instead of selling it, and it keeps the house running when the grid goes down. That second job is not a bonus. Panels on their own shut off in an outage, by design, so a roof full of them powers nothing during a storm. That is the part we will not refer around.
So we treat it as a requirement, not an upgrade. We will not refer you for a panels-only system in Duke Carolinas territory, and you should be skeptical of anyone who quotes you one without raising storage first.
Our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement
What your installer should be telling you
Ask which rider you are being enrolled on, and ask for the current avoided cost figure in writing. Ask separately what the monthly minimum bill will be, because credits cannot reduce it.
Applying to Duke Carolinas
What Duke Carolinas itself requires, as distinct from what the state rule requires. Read from its own published guidelines on the date shown.
- Which rider you are on decides everything
- Rider NM is the legacy rate and closed to new customers on 30 September 2023. Riders RSC and NMB took effect on 1 October 2023. If a quote does not name the rider, it is not a quote you can check.
- RSC forces you onto time of use with critical peak pricing
- Rider RSC "requires that customers take service under a Time-Of-Use with Critical Peak Pricing rate schedule". That changes what you pay for the power you buy, not just what you are paid for the power you sell.
- NMB does not, and it lasts fifteen years
- Rider NMB is the same arrangement without the mandatory time of use schedule. A customer may stay on it "for up to 15 years from the date of their interconnection request application, at which point they will be required to transfer to Rider RSC or another net metering tariff in effect at that time."
- Exports are bought at avoided cost
- Under both new riders, "net exports will be credited at the utility’s avoided cost rate each month". Not at the retail rate, and not banked as kilowatt hours.
- There is a floor the credits cannot touch
- The riders "introduce a monthly minimum bill, which reflects the full fixed cost to serve net metering customers". Credits do not offset the Basic Facilities Charge.
- Legacy credits are forfeited once a year
- On the legacy rider, any unused credit accumulated over the previous twelve months is forfeited each 1 June for Duke Energy Carolinas and 31 May for Duke Energy Progress. A mild winter surplus does not survive to the next summer.
- Existing legacy customers move on 31 December 2026
- The Public Staff states legacy Rider NM customers continue "until December 31, 2026, at which point they will be automatically transitioned to Rider NMB". If you already have solar in North Carolina, that date is about you. If you are buying, it is not a deadline, whatever a countdown on an installer’s website says.
From Duke Carolinas’s published guidelines · checked 2026-09-05 · source
Duke Carolinas net metering questions
- Does Duke Carolinas offer one for one net metering?
- No. Net exports are credited each month at the utility’s avoided cost rate rather than the retail rate, under riders the Utilities Commission approved in March 2023.
- What does Duke Carolinas pay for power sent back to the grid?
- Avoided cost, with a minimum bill underneath. Credits carry month to month; on the legacy rider they are forfeited annually.
- Do I need a battery with Duke Carolinas?
- Yes, and we treat it as mandatory. Because Duke Carolinas does not credit exports one for one, the return has to come from using your own production rather than selling it, which after dark means storage and usually a larger array than a one for one utility would need. The other half is backup: panels alone shut off in an outage, so a battery is what keeps the house running in a storm. We do not refer panels-only systems in Duke Carolinas territory. This is our referral policy, not a legal or utility requirement.
- How do I find my Duke Carolinas bill?
- Sign in at duke-energy.com. Open My Account, then Billing & Payment. Open View Bill and save the PDF. Or screenshot the summary page. If you cannot get to it, a rough guess at your average monthly amount is enough to start.
- What is the catch with Duke Carolinas?
- Ask which rider you are being enrolled on, and ask for the current avoided cost figure in writing. Ask separately what the monthly minimum bill will be, because credits cannot reduce it.
Installers serving Duke Carolinas customers
Pick one. Only the company you choose receives your details, and only that company calls you.
These are real companies operating in Duke Carolinas territory, ordered by reviews, years trading and BBB grade. None of them pays us for placement. Pick the one you want and we will call you to arrange it.
Ordering combines three things we read from primary sources: Google review count and rating, years trading taken from the company’s Better Business Bureau profile rather than its own marketing, and its BBB letter grade. BBB accreditation is shown but never scored, because it is a paid membership rather than a mark of quality.
Check any contractor license yourself at the state register. Do that before you sign anything, with any company, including ours.