duk-20230426

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): April 26, 2023


Commission File Number	Registrant, State of Incorporation or Organization, Address of Principal Executive Offices, Telephone Number and Zip Code	IRS Employer Identification No.

1-32853	DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION	20-2777218

(a Delaware corporation)

550 South Tryon Street

Charlotte, North Carolina 28202-1803

704-382-3853


1-3382			DUKE ENERGY PROGRESS, LLC						56-0165465

(a North Carolina limited liability company)

410 South Wilmington Street

Raleigh, North Carolina 27601-1748

704-382-3853

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:


☐			Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
☐			Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
☐			Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
☐			Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OF THE ACT:

Registrant

Title of each class

Trading Symbol(s)

Name of each exchange on which registered

Duke Energy

Common Stock, $0.001 par value

DUK

New York Stock Exchange LLC

Duke Energy

5.625% Junior Subordinated Debentures due September 15, 2078

DUKB

New York Stock Exchange LLC

Duke Energy

Depositary Shares

DUK PR A

New York Stock Exchange LLC

each representing a 1/1,000th interest in a share of 5.75% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share

Duke Energy

3.10% Senior Notes due 2028

DUK 28A

New York Stock Exchange LLC

Duke Energy

3.85% Senior Notes due 2034

DUK34

New York Stock Exchange LLC

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).

Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. o

Item 7.01. Regulation FD Disclosure.

On April 26, 2023, Duke Energy Progress, LLC (“DEP”) reached a partial settlement with the Public Staff – North Carolina Utilities Commission (the “Public Staff”) in connection with DEP’s Performance Based Regulation (“PBR”) application filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission (the “NCUC”) on October 6, 2022. Additionally, on April 27, 2023, DEP and the Public Staff filed a Transmission Cost Allocation Agreement and Stipulation of Settlement (together with the partial settlement, the “Stipulations”). On April 28, 2023, DEP filed testimony consistent with the Stipulations. The Stipulations include, among other things, (i) agreement on prudence of plant-related investments as of March 31, 2023, subject to Public Staff audit of final supplemental updates , (ii) agreement on capital projects and related costs to be included in the 3-year multi-year rate plan, (iii) the acceptance of depreciation rates proposed by DEP, with certain adjustments, and (iv) support for full recovery of Grid Improvement Plan deferred costs over 18 years with a debt return during the deferral period and a full weighted-average cost of capital return during the amortization period.

The Stipulations do not include an agreement on return on equity, capitalization structure, or recovery of deferred costs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, among other items. The Stipulations are subject to the review and approval of the NCUC. An evidentiary hearing to review the Stipulations and remaining issues in the case has been rescheduled to commence on May 4, 2023. An overview providing additional detail on the Stipulations is attached to this Form 8-K as Exhibit 99.1. The information in Exhibit 99.1 is being furnished pursuant to this Item 7.01 and shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section.

Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d) Exhibits.

99.1 Duke Energy P r ogress Summary of P artial Settlement in North Carolina Rate Case.

104 Cover Page Interactive Data File (the cover page XBRL tags are embedded in the Inline XBRL document).

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.



			DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION
Date: April 28, 2023			By: /s/ David S. Maltz
			Name: David S. Maltz
			Title: Vice President, Legal, Chief Governance Officer and Assistant Corporate Secretary

			DUKE ENERGY PROGRESS, LLC
Date: April 28, 2023			By: /s/ David S. Maltz
			Name: David S. Maltz
			Title: Vice President, Legal, Chief Governance Officer and Assistant Secretary

Exhibit 99.1

Duke Energy Progress, LLC

Updates Regarding the North Carolina Rate Case (Docket E-2 Sub 1300)

Background:

•On October 6, 2022, Duke Energy Progress (“DEP” or “the Company”) filed a rate case with the North Carolina Utilities Commission (“NCUC”) to request an increase in base rate retail revenues. DEP’s rate request before the NCUC includes a Performance Based Regulation (“PBR”) Application which includes a Multi-Year Rate Plan (“MYRP”) and proposes rates for 3 years within the MYRP period.

oThe initial rate case filing requested an approximate overall 16.0% increase in retail revenues over the three-year period, or approximately $615 million.

oThe rate case filing requested an overall rate of return of 7.13% based on approval of a 10.2% return on equity (“ROE”) and a 53% equity component of the capital structure.1 Note that the requested ROE was updated to 10.4% in subsequent updates.

oThe historic base case in the filing is based on a North Carolina retail rate base of $12.3 billion as of December 31, 2021, adjusted for known and measurable changes projected through April 30, 2023.

oThe MYRP in the initial filing included impacts of approximately $3.8 billion (NC retail allocation) of capital projects that are projected to go in service over the MYRP period.

•On April 26, 2023, DEP and the Public Staff - North Carolina Utilities Commission (“Public Staff”) filed an Agreement and Stipulation of Partial Settlement with the NCUC resolving certain issues in the base rate and MYRP proceeding. Additionally, on April 27, 2023, DEP and the Public Staff filed a Transmission Cost Allocation Agreement and Stipulation of Settlement (together with the Partial Settlement, the “Stipulations”).

Major components of the Stipulations:

•Rate base: Agreement on prudence of plant-related investments as of March 31, 2023, subject to Public Staff audit of final supplemental updates. Taking into consideration the Stipulations, agreed-upon NC retail rate base for the historic base case is approximately $12.2 billion.

•MYRP Capital: Agreement on capital projects and related costs to be included in the 3-year MYRP, including $3.5 billion (NC retail allocation) projected to go in service over the MYRP period. This reflects reduced contingency for MYRP project cost estimates and certain other adjustments.

•Depreciation rates: Acceptance of depreciation rates proposed by DEP, including coal plant retirement dates, with certain depreciable lives of transmission and general plant investments adjusted to conform to recommendations by Public Staff.

o75% of impact of updated subcritical coal plant retirement dates to be deferred to a regulatory asset (as compared to 50% originally proposed by DEP) and agreement on traditional recovery for any amounts not eligible for securitization.

•Grid Improvement Plan (“GIP”): Support for full recovery of GIP deferred costs over 18 years (rather than 3 years proposed by the Company) with a debt return during the deferral period and a full weighted-average cost of capital (“WACC”) return during the amortization period.

1 This overall rate of return includes the provisions of the CCR settlement which includes a 150 basis point reduction in the ROE with a 52% equity component for the capital structure allowed for coal ash deferrals during the amortization period.

•Transmission Cost Allocation: Agreement on re-allocation of certain transmission costs between DEP and Duke Energy Carolinas (“DEC”). This agreement was filed separately in both the DEP and DEC rate case dockets.

•Other Adjustments: Agreement on various other adjustments impacting the revenue requirement, including employee incentives, executive compensation, rent expense, and coal fleet O&M spend.

Key issues on which the parties have not reached a compromise include:

•Return on equity and capital structure.

•Recovery of deferred costs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, including the appropriate amortization period.

•Storm balancing account proposed by DEP to reduce volatility of future major storm costs.

•Appropriate treatment for DEP’s proposal to net over amortizations (regulatory liabilities) against similar regulatory assets.

Additional Information:

•The Stipulations are subject to the review and approval of the NCUC.

•An evidentiary hearing to review the Stipulations and remaining issues in the case has been rescheduled to commence May 4, 2023.

•DEP intends to implement temporary rates subject to refund for the historic base case in June 2023.

•Subject to NCUC approval, DEP has requested permanent total Year 1 rates to be in effect no later than October 1, 2023.

•The Stipulations do not result in any material immediate accounting impacts for DEP (impairments or write-offs).

Reconciliation of Company Request to Reflect Stipulations


($ in millions)	Historic Base Case	Year 1 -MYRP	Total Year 1
Original requested revenue requirement increase	$219	$107	$326
Post-filing, pre-Stipulation adjustments	87	(2)	85
Revised company requested revenue requirement increase	306	105	411
Agreed upon adjustments:
Reduction in depreciation expense	(26)	(2)	(28)
Reduction due to transmission cost allocation	(20)		(20)
Extended amortization period for GIP deferral	(11)		(11)
Reduced contingency in MYRP projects		(4)	(4)
Change to in-service dates	(10)	4	(6)
Other revenue reductions	(20)	(2)	(22)
Total agreed upon adjustments	(87)	(4)	(91)
Company requested revenue requirement increase considering agreed upon items	$219	$101	$320
Net annualized customer rate increase	5.5%	2.5%	8.0%


($ in millions)	Year 2 -MYRP	Year 3 -MYRP	Combined Total
Original requested revenue requirement increase	$151	$138	$615
Post-filing, pre-Stipulation adjustments	(18)	10	77
Revised company requested revenue requirement increase	133	148	692
Agreed upon adjustments:
Reduction in depreciation expense	(2)	(1)	(31)
Reduction due to transmission cost allocation			(20)
Extended amortization period for GIP deferral			(11)
Reduced contingency in MYRP projects	(7)	(8)	(19)
Change to in-service dates	4	3	1
Other revenue reductions	(1)	(2)	(25)
Total agreed upon adjustments	(6)	(8)	(105)
Company requested revenue requirement increase considering agreed upon items	$127	$140	$587
Net annualized customer rate increase	3.2%	3.5%	14.7%

Totals may not add due to rounding.

Historic Base Case includes Company requested change of $8M to EDIT decrement rider.