Duke Energy making rapid clean energy progress, CEO tells shareholders at annual meeting

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May 05, 2022, 17:42 ET

Lynn Good says company 'leading largest clean energy transition' in U.S.
Customer focus, energy affordability remain key priorities.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) in 2021 continued to make rapid progress in its multi-year transition to clean energy sources, Chair, President and CEO Lynn Good told investors during the company's annual shareholders meeting today.

"Our more than 27,000 teammates rallied behind our mission to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050," she said. "Our promise is to continue this momentum. Our five-year enterprise capital plan includes $63 billion of investment, and 80% is directed to our clean energy transition."

Good cited several milestones:

"We surpassed 10,000 megawatts of owned, operated or purchased renewables on our system, and remain on track to reach 16,000 megawatts of renewables by 2025 and 24,000 megawatts by 2030.
"We filed for Subsequent License Renewal of Oconee Nuclear Station – our largest nuclear plant – and we plan to file requests for our remaining units to maintain this vital source of carbon-free energy for another 20 years.
"We worked with stakeholders to help achieve bipartisan support in what's been called the most comprehensive piece of energy legislation in North Carolina history – setting the course for carbon reduction and regulatory reform.
"We look forward to delivering a Carbon Plan to the North Carolina Utilities Commission later this month that will map out a variety of paths to achieve a 70% carbon reduction.
"We continued to oversee the largest planned retirement of coal in our industry. We retired almost 1,000 megawatts of coal between the Carolinas and Indiana – bringing us to 7,500 megawatts retired since 2010."

"Already in 2022, we've taken aggressive action, expanding our net-zero emissions goal to include Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 emissions. We also announced we're targeting energy from coal to represent less than 5% of our total generation by 2030, and a full exit by 2035," she said.

"We look forward to continued progress on our goals across our jurisdictions – retiring coal units, adding renewables and battery storage, investing in the grid, advocating for new zero-emission technologies, and collaborating with state and federal policymakers, regulators and stakeholders to meet the unique needs of each state," Good said.

Customer focus, energy affordability

In 2021, "we continued to surpass our benchmark targets for our internal customer satisfaction metrics, and improved our J.D. Power rankings, year over year, in nearly all of our jurisdictions," she said.

Duke Energy also continued to actively work to keep energy affordable for customers.

The company offered energy-saving tips and innovative efficiency programs to help customers manage and reduce their energy use. For example, the Home Energy House Call is a free in-home energy assessment that provides customers with comprehensive information about how they use energy – and strategies to save money on their monthly energy bills.

In addition, Duke Energy worked aggressively to assist financially struggling customers – offering customized bill-payment programs, connecting customers to financial assistance programs run by government agencies and nonprofit organizations, and donating funds to community organizations that help individuals and families in need.

The company in 2021 established a dedicated team of customer advocates to partner with government assistance agencies and nonprofit organizations. Through this model, the company helped customers receive more than $100 million in financial support to help pay their energy bills.

Duke Energy also assisted low-income customers with utility bills, providing $3.2 million through the Share the Light Fund and other donations.

Other business

Also at today's meeting:

Good fielded shareholder questions on a range of topics. The company will post responses to questions on its website.
Shareholders elected all 14 nominees to the company's board of directors.
A nonbinding shareholder proposal did not receive a majority of shareholder votes cast.

A replay of the meeting will be posted on Duke Energy's investors page.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 28,000 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business and at least a 50% carbon reduction from electric generation by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The 2050 net-zero goals also include Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 emissions. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2022 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "America's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Neil Nissan
800.559.3853

SOURCE Duke Energy