Duke Energy

I guess this means I can Google my ass off and not feel guilty (get your mind out of the gutter, people):

Google said it is committed to using renewable energy at its data centers — the reason it plans to participate in a new program Duke Energy is developing for large customers that want to buy renewable energy. "As more of the world moves online, demand for Google's services continues to grow — and we want our renewable energy options to grow with it," he said. Google said it operates some of the world most efficient data centers, and in 2007 made a voluntary commitment to become carbon neutral.

We'll have to wait and see if the Victorian Era NC GOP will try to put the kibosh on this, but it looks like Duke Energy is all for it, so... If they (or Americans For the Prosperous) do decide to oppose it, there will need to be some serious explaining:

This could just easily be a Duke Energy commercial instead of an Exxon commercial. It's a sad commentary either way.

Profiles in corporate tax avoidance

Duke Energy reported a profit of $1.792 billion to the federal government in 2012 which, at a rate of 35%, should have resulted in a federal tax liability of $627 million. Nonetheless, as a result of its use of creative tax avoidance techniques it actually enjoyed a federal tax rate of negative 2.6% and received a rebate of $46 million.

For the five years between 2008 and 2012, Duke reported a total profit of just over $9 billion. Again, however as a result of tax avoidance techniques, its effective federal tax rate for this period was -3.3% (i.e., negative 3.3%). In other words, Duke received a net federal tax rebate for the five-year period of $299 million.

Pimping cheap power while raising our rates:

On Tuesday, Duke named John Fremstad of Orlando, Fla., to head its data-center recruiting efforts. The program has been an enormous success in North Carolina, where Duke (NYSE:DUK) has been a major player in closing 15 data-center deals.

I'm not sure squandering our resources should be described as an "enormous success", and I'm pretty sure other residential customers would agree with me:

A regular citizen would find himself in jail for pulling this shit. DAG McCrory of course, will skate, right along with all the other scumbag insider traitors surrounding him and Governor Pope.

I'd like to say this is a piece of Blue Onion satire, but it's not.

Aided and abetted by ALEC, of course:

ALEC's Electricity Freedom Act model bill was written by the Heartland Institute, a shill group made infamous for comparing those who recognize climate science to terrorists like Ted Kaczynski. Todd Wynn, a corporate influence peddler who heads ALEC's Energy, Environment and Agriculture task force, named North Carolina as one of several states ALEC will focus its clean energy attacks

I sincerely hope this bad idea gets stopped in its tracks. But if it doesn't, everybody needs to remember the original (bad) deal: in order to get SB3 passed, utilities were allowed to reinstate the previously disallowed process known as Construction Work In Progress (CWIP). If SB3 goes, CWIP needs to go too.

And our water quality is already suffering for it:

The Web site houses a database of 100 power plants in the Southeast, categorized by how much damage they would do if they broke. North Carolina has more "high-hazard" dams, meaning ruptures could kill people, than any other state in the Southeast.

In case you've forgotten, here's what's at stake:

Breaking News: The N.C. Utilities Commission has agreed to end its investigation of Duke Energy's acquisition of Progress Energy in exchange for concessions from Duke, including a search for a new CEO. Keep up with breaking news at http://www.wral.com/

Is anyone surprised at this?

Poor Jim Rogers. It seems that buying a governor doesn't quite satisfy his lust for control. Now he's resorting to corporate blackmail:

He added that the commission is aware of Duke’s importance to the state as a North Carolina company. And he said if Duke cannot get proper regulator treatment “we might not be headquartered in North Carolina in the near future.”

Making me wonder even more about where Paul Newby's shadowy PAC money came from:

The N.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear Attorney General Roy Cooper’s claim that economic pain to customers wasn’t fully considered in Duke Energy Carolinas’ latest rate hike. Cooper is challenging a key factor in utility rates: Called the rate of return on equity, or ROE, it’s the profit margin utilities are allowed to earn on capital investments.

Highlighting another glaring contradiction between the faux-Libertarian John Locke Foundation and their supposed principles. The State guaranteeing profits for one corporation (especially during a recession) is the anti-thesis of a free market. They whine like puppies about the REPS, but don't make a squeak about this or CWIP (Construction Work in Progress), which allows utilities to charge us for power that isn't even being generated yet. Total ideological fail.