Duke Energy Loses State Supreme Court Effort to Recover Costs

Two Duke Energy Corp. subsidiaries are unable to pass on environmental compliance expenses, litigation fees, and carrying costs to customers in North and South Carolina, a split South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed.

The South Carolina Public Service Commission’s decision against allowing those costs were supported by evidence, and it clearly explained why it picked one side’s arguments or evidence over the other, the court said. The majority rejected Duke Energy’s attempt to “recast the PSC’s factual findings as legal errors,” according to the opinion filed Wednesday.

Justice John Cannon Few disagreed with the majority’s opinion when it came to the ...