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Duke Energy said Tuesday it wants a big raise in electricity rates at a time when many customers find it hard to pay their bills.

The Charlotte-based energy company said it has asked the N.C. Utilities Commission to increase its base rates by an average of 12.6 percent.

If the commission approves the full request, the average residential bill would jump about 13.5 percent, an increase from $82 to $93 a month.

Rates for other customer categories would rise by varying amounts.

“We recognize that this is a challenging time to ask customers to pay more for electricity, so we didn’t make this decision lightly,” said Brett Carter, president of Duke Energy Carolinas. “If we didn’t need it, we wouldn’t ask for it.” 

If approved, the increase would take effect no sooner than Jan. 1.

Carter said it would be Duke Energy’s first increase in general rates since 1991. However, the company can pass along increases in fuel costs to customers on an annual basis.

A utilities commission official said Tuesday that Duke Energy’s residential customers would likely see rates go up about 5 percent in September to cover higher fuel costs.

Tuesday’s rate request comes at a time when emergency assistance officials across the state report that an increasing number of people, because of the severe recession, have been unable to pay their power bills.

The size of Duke Energy’s request took some of them by surprise.

“That just shocks me,” said Craig Thomas, executive director of Mary’s House in Greensboro, one of several  agencies that helps with emergency assistance. “Not 3 percent, but 13 percent. Good God almighty.”

Thomas said the city has seen more than a 100 percent increase in requests for emergency assistance over the past year.

“I don’t want Duke Energy to go broke,” Thomas said, “but they have to recognize how desperate people are with these current rates.”

While the rate request may seem high to some, those who monitor such things say the amount is in keeping with national trends.

“Across the board, we are seeing rate increases for various reasons,” said Rob Thormeyer, a spokesman for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in Washington.

 “The utilities may not get what they want but rates are going up.”

In 1991, Duke Energy asked the utilites commission for a 9.2 percent increase in its base rate, but got only a 4.1 percent increase.

“That is not necessarily an indicator how this case will turn out,” said James McLawhorn, an official with the N.C. Utilities Commission Public Staff, the commission’s consumer advocate arm. “Every case is different.” 

McLawhorn said he had not read the Duke Energy request.

Duke Energy officials said that if the commission approves its request, annual revenues from North Carolina operations would increase by about $496 million.

The company said adjusting its base rate, which covers everything except fuel costs, would allow it to realign its expenses with the price it charges customers.

Since 2006, Carter said, the company has invested approximately $4.8 billion for pollution control equipment for some of its largest plants, new power lines and equipment across the system and new plant construction.

He said the company’s rates in North Carolina are 31 percent below the national average and about 24 percent other utilites in the Southeast.

On Monday, Carter said, the company launched a number of energy efficiency programs to help customers save power and money, adding that the average residential user can save about $5 a month by participating. 

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com