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Understanding Riders

At Duke Energy, we’re committed to empowering you with clarity and insight so you can better understand the ways we charge for energy use and the services we provide. When reviewing your monthly bill, you’ll see various charges that contribute to your overall monthly bill. Watch this short video to learn more about these charges, including your base rate and riders.
infographic depicting what makes up a monthly bill

What charges make up my monthly bill?

  • Basic customer charge covers the fixed costs of equipment and delivery of service.
  • Energy charge is the electricity used as measured in kilowatt-hours.
  • Storm recovery charge is used to recover the costs of repairing electrical infrastructure damage caused by significant hurricanes, severe icing and other select weather-related events.
  • Riders allow for the recovery of variable costs like fuel needed for the generation of power, or for the administration of programs designed to lower energy costs and demand through greater efficiency. Riders can also serve as a means to apply credits for things like tax code changes. They can be listed individually or totaled together as a Summary of Rider Adjustments.
Infographic depicting examples of what costs riders cover

What are some examples of riders?

  • The rider for demand side management and energy efficiency recovers the costs necessary to administer customer programs and offers, all intended to lower peak energy load and reduce energy use.
  • The fuel cost adjustment rider addresses the under- and over-recovery of fuel costs used to generate power. Though customers never pay a markup on fuel, the rider facilitates the pass-through costs with annual adjustments that account for changes in marketplace pricing.
  • The renewable energy rider helps accelerate the use of new, cleaner energy sources across the state through the purchase of renewable energy credits.
Infographic depicting customer benefits of riders

How do riders benefit customers and communities?

  • By providing a path to lowering energy use through riders, we can help communities save money and reduce the need to build new power generation plants.
  • Riders are frequently updated and adjusted annually. It’s not uncommon for some riders to serve as a means to place credits toward customer bills.
  • Riders can also be leveraged to help accelerate the use of cleaner energy sources – fulfilling state policies to reduce carbon emissions by furthering the expansion of innovative and green technologies.
Infographic depicting riders being reviewing by utilities commission

Who oversees and reviews riders?

  • Riders are reviewed annually or over a specific span of time by the utilities commission.
  • The utilities commission is the governing body that works to ensure approved riders are in the customers' best interest while also meeting the needs of the utility to serve communities with safe and reliable energy.