Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) has expanded its energy efficiency and demand response incentives for residential and commercial customers in South Carolina, rolling out significant program updates effective August 1, 2025. The changes, approved by the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSCSC), include higher rebates, broader eligibility criteria, and enhanced bill credits, especially targeting smart thermostats, electric water heaters, and load curtailment participants.
The enhancements are being linked to the state’s recently passed South Carolina Energy Security Act, which has reinforced the regulatory and policy mandate for expanding grid resilience, customer affordability, and long-term decarbonization.
Why did Duke Energy increase its energy efficiency incentives?
According to Duke Energy’s South Carolina President, Tim Pearson, the new incentive structures mark a “doubling or even tripling” of certain program benefits. These financial enhancements are designed to accelerate customer adoption of energy efficiency technologies at a time when both consumer utility costs and statewide energy demand are under pressure.
The changes are also expected to help Duke Energy align more closely with state policy objectives laid out in the Energy Security Act, which prioritizes demand-side management alongside grid modernization and clean energy infrastructure expansion.
Residential customers now receive increased benefits through several upgraded programs. These include free home energy assessments under the “Home Energy House Call” program—now featuring the installation of free products such as smart power strips, efficient showerheads, and caulking—alongside expanded rebates via the Smart $aver program for insulation, water heaters, and smart thermostats.
More notably, customers participating in Power Manager and EnergyWise Home can now receive larger bill credits in exchange for shifting their usage to off-peak hours. For example, participants with electric water heaters are being offered newly introduced credits that had not been available under previous program structures.
Business customer participation and new commercial incentives
On the commercial front, Duke Energy has similarly raised the bar. Incentive rates for its PowerShare program—a voluntary load curtailment offering for large commercial users—have risen from $3.50 to $5.00 per kilowatt (kW) of load curtailed, depending on the option selected. This aligns Duke’s incentive structure more closely with emerging market expectations for demand response compensation in the Southeast energy market.
The company also increased incentives through its EnergyWise Business program, a commercial counterpart to its residential demand response offerings. In addition, most energy efficiency program rebates for business customers have been increased by approximately 20% to 25%, a strategic move aimed at lowering implementation barriers for HVAC upgrades, lighting retrofits, and process efficiency investments.
These changes arrive as utilities across the U.S. Southeast face rising summer peak demand, driven in part by intensifying heat domes and electrification trends in residential and light commercial markets. Expanding demand response is seen by regulators as a non-wires alternative to delay or avoid costly capacity additions.
Tying in low-income assistance and equity goals
Duke Energy’s 2025 program overhaul includes new or expanded options for low- and moderate-income (LMI) households, particularly those at risk of energy insecurity. The Share the Light Fund, a long-standing Duke Energy program, continues to offer utility bill assistance to qualified applicants. But the company has also updated its customer engagement strategy by directing users to broader third-party resources and social service referrals that may assist with non-energy essentials.
Duke Energy has positioned these updates not just as utility bill reductions, but as vehicles to improve household stability and community resilience. Flexible payment arrangements and expanded outreach are part of the company’s response to mounting inflation-related pressures on customers across its territory.
The utility’s portfolio of customer support programs now spans usage monitoring tools, seasonal payment planning, and bundled home energy audits, reflecting an integrated approach to managing affordability, efficiency, and service reliability.
Broader regulatory context and investor sentiment
The South Carolina Energy Security Act—signed into law earlier this year—has triggered a broad reevaluation of utility investment strategies in the state, placing renewed emphasis on demand-side management. For Duke Energy, which serves over 750,000 electric customers in South Carolina, these changes represent both a compliance measure and a proactive grid management strategy.
Institutional analysts monitoring the utility sector have noted that investor interest in regulated utilities with forward-looking demand response portfolios is rising, particularly in states with supportive policy frameworks. While not immediately earnings-accretive, these programs may contribute to long-term rate base growth through deferred capital investment and improved load factor stability.
Although Duke Energy did not disclose the total expected capital outlay for the expanded incentive programs, similar energy efficiency portfolios in other states have yielded cost-effective peak reduction at under $100 per kW-year—well below the cost of new generation capacity.
The company reported revenues of $28.8 billion in FY2024, with $5.2 billion in net income and an earnings per share (EPS) of $5.14, according to its most recent annual report. Duke’s regulated electric operations accounted for roughly 90% of its earnings base, underscoring the strategic importance of customer programs approved by state commissions like PSCSC.
What does this mean for South Carolina’s energy landscape?
The South Carolina Public Service Commission’s approval of Duke Energy’s incentive increases comes amid rising electricity demand across the region. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Southeast has experienced the second-fastest electricity load growth in the country since 2021, with both weather and economic development as key drivers.
By promoting customer-level efficiency and load flexibility, Duke Energy is supporting the state’s shift toward distributed grid optimization—a trend that mirrors national policy priorities under the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Moreover, the timing of these program expansions coincides with new federal funding allocations through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which has earmarked over $1 billion for state-run Home Energy Rebate Programs. While Duke Energy’s latest South Carolina offerings are funded through its regulated utility mechanism, the alignment with federal goals may unlock future co-funding opportunities.
What happens next for Duke Energy customers?
Residential and business customers interested in participating can now access updated eligibility and incentive information on Duke Energy’s website. The utility has committed to running targeted awareness campaigns throughout Q3 and Q4 2025 to ensure that customers—especially income-constrained households and small businesses—can take full advantage of the changes.
While the company has not yet provided participation projections, past enrollment surges in Smart $aver and PowerShare suggest that the enhanced incentives could significantly boost adoption. Analysts expect these programs to contribute measurable reductions to Duke Energy’s peak load forecasts as early as summer 2026.
Program feedback and enrollment data will also likely be used to inform future integrated resource planning (IRP) filings, giving the PSCSC and stakeholders empirical data on demand-side resource performance in South Carolina’s evolving energy landscape.
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