Duke Energy plans to raise $10 billion through equity issuance to fund a massive expansion of natural gas generation capacity, with CEO Harry Sideris stating the utility is deploying more than $1 billion per month to meet what it calls record electricity demand. The move signals one of the largest fossil-fuel-focused capital programs by a U.S. utility in recent years, even as consumer advocates in North Carolina challenge the company’s demand forecasts as inflated to justify the spending.
The equity raise underscores a broader strategic bet across the regulated utility sector: that load growth from data centers, manufacturing reshoring, and electrification will outpace the ability of renewables and storage to provide firm capacity within the planning horizon. Duke’s Carolinas resource plan, filed earlier this year, calls for more than 8,000 megawatts of new gas-fired generation by the early 2030s, a scale that would lock in carbon emissions for decades and test state-level clean energy mandates.
Critics argue the utility’s load projections rely on speculative large-load commitments that may not materialize, while overstating the difficulty of integrating higher shares of renewables. The North Carolina Attorney General’s office and clean energy groups have contested Duke’s modeling assumptions in regulatory proceedings, warning that ratepayers could bear the cost of stranded gas assets if demand falls short or clean technology costs decline faster than anticipated.
For investors, the $10 billion equity offering — likely executed through forward sale agreements and at-the-market programs — dilutes existing shareholders but preserves balance sheet strength and credit metrics amid a capital expenditure cycle that could exceed $145 billion through 2028. The raise also reflects a sector-wide shift: after years of prioritizing dividend growth and share buybacks, large utilities are returning to equity markets to fund infrastructure buildouts not seen since the nuclear construction era.
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