Lawmakers, you have a responsibility to protect the consumers, not the profits of the power companies and their shareholders. It’s time to stand up for the people who pay the bills, the ones who elected you to represent their interests in the state legislature.

Our electric bill keeps going up, and the increases are about to get even more if Senate Bill 261, now moving through the General Assembly, passes. This bill would leave customers paying for new power plants, while Duke Energy shareholders would reap the profit. Our elected lawmakers must stand up for the people who elected them, and the ones who pay the bills each month, not the ones cashing in.

SB 261 will lead to skyrocketing energy bills, worsening the burden on struggling families. Projections show that customer bills will go up between now and 2038 if this bill passes. Customers may end up paying in advance for a power plant that never generates electricity, as what happened to our neighbors in South Carolina when the $9 billion VC Summer nuclear plant was discontinued before it generated a single kilowatt. In Georgia, a $17 billion plant turned into a $35 billion plant, with customers paying for the cost overruns.

Lawmakers, you have a responsibility to protect the consumers, not the profits of the power companies and their shareholders. It’s time to stand up for the people who pay the bills, the ones who elected you to represent their interests in the state legislature.