Wilmington Man questions massive spike in winter energy bill

1 hour ago

Bryan Alonso,

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)–March 20th is the first day of spring, and many people are ready to embrace warmer weather—especially after the harsh winter the Cape Fear Region experienced. Lots of people are receiving their power bills, and it’s been a real shock for many.

Many people, like Wilmington resident Tom Toby, have contacted WWAY, sharing concerns about their Duke Energy bills.

“It’s absolutely flabbergasting to me that the bill went up that much.”

That is Toby’s response after seeing his winter heating bills. Toby’s bill for the month of December was $320.14—a drastic difference from his January bill, which was $647.69.

He says he doesn’t understand the change in price when he lives in a one-story house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms and has solar panels.

“Somebody needs to explain to me how, with nothing in the house changing at all and a shorter billing cycle, our usage more than doubled,” said Toby. “I have solar panels on my roof, and I have a gas log fireplace that we run when it gets really cold. There’s just absolutely no way that the power bill—our usage—increased that much.”

Duke Energy’s Caroline Fountain says the recent frigid conditions led to unprecedented energy usage.

“A lot of people were home during that time, so they were not going to work or school,” said Fountain. “That is additional energy usage because they were maybe turning their thermostats a little higher or using their dishwasher and doing more laundry. All of that goes into how much energy is used.”

Toby didn’t buy that explanation, so he called Duke Energy Customer Service.

“I spent an hour and a half on the phone. I called and went through their phone system. I finally got to a human,” said Toby.

He says he never got a clear answer, so we shared his bill with Duke Energy, which responded:

“We reviewed the customer’s bill, and it correctly reflects higher energy usage from the long cold stretch we experienced in late January and early February. It was one of the most extreme winters we’ve experienced in a decade. That extended cold weather resulted in heating use being as much as 1/3 higher than in 2025 based on National Weather Service heating degree data, resulting in higher energy usage and the primary reason for higher bills. During that time, the customer delivered 86 kWh back to the grid through their solar interconnection”

Toby doesn’t like the higher bills. He says it’s unfair that Duke makes so much money while customers’ bills increase every year.

“Duke is raking in billion-dollar profits every year, while the rest of us are struggling to pay the power bill,” said Toby.

With warmer temperatures on the way, many people may rely more on their air conditioning units. Here are some tips from Duke Energy to help people save money: