Governance and Transparency
Listening to Our Customers
Above all else, electricity must be reliable and affordable – that’s what residents in the Carolinas and the Midwest told us in 2009.
As part of our ongoing stakeholder engagement, Duke Energy conducts independent polling on energy issues with households in North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. The surveys, carried out by FrederickPolls, give us valuable feedback on our mission of providing customers with energy that’s affordable, reliable and increasingly clean.
Residents in the states we serve consider reliability and reasonable cost to be the two most important factors when it comes to electricity. In addition, a vast majority of respondents said they support retiring and replacing aging power plants with newer, more modern technology.
The surveys also reveal a growing belief that rising demand for electricity can be met through conservation rather than by building more power plants. Another popular option: generating electricity from renewable resources like wind and solar energy. However, survey results indicate that respondents may not necessarily be aware of the higher costs associated with renewable power, compared to generation from traditional fuels like coal, nuclear and natural gas.
Here are a few additional conclusions from the surveys:
- In the Carolinas, almost 60 percent of respondents expressed support for the continued construction of our new 825-megawatt (MW) advanced pulverized-coal unit at the Cliffside Steam Station.
- Approximately 71 percent of South Carolinians polled support our proposed 2,234-MW William States Lee III Nuclear Station in Cherokee County.
- In Indiana, roughly three-quarters of respondents approve of our construction of a 630-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle plant in Edwardsport.
