Duke earned $1.58 billion in profits in the first quarter of 2026, up $180 million from this time last year.
Duke Energy released its first-quarter financial report on Tuesday, May 5. Data center development and interest continued to drive most of the demand for new infrastructure that underpins the company’s profits. This includes new projects from Microsoft, Amazon, Digital Realty and other hyperscale data center developers.
“We continue to seize the growth in our attractive regions, driven by innovation and AI technologies and advanced manufacturing,” Duke Energy’s president, Harry Sideris, said during an earnings call Tuesday morning.
The utility has 7.6 gigawatts of new demand from data centers in its economic development pipeline across its multi-state territories, up 2.7 gigawatts since the end of last year. Of that new demand, 5 gigawatts are already under construction — that’s more than triple the output of some nuclear and fossil fuel power plants.
Sideris said that the company has been collaborating with local governments to attract data centers to its territories. While Duke continues to court new projects, several North Carolina municipalities and counties have already passed moratoriums on data centers while they scramble to update local ordinances or wait for state-level protections. Others — including Charlotte — are considering them.
Lee County resident Sheila Sherrick has been asking her county commissioners to pass a temporary ban.
“If everybody’s rates are going up, what are the data centers contributing?” Sherrick said. She said she sees a mismatch between Duke’s current rate hike proposal and the savings the utility has promised.
Sideris also touted recent favorable regulatory outcomes. Last week, state and federal regulators approved Duke’s proposal to merge its two Carolina utilities, a merger that will take effect on January 1, 2027. Federal regulators renewed the license for the Robinson Nuclear Plant in Hartsville, South Carolina, allowing it to operate through 2050. The company also sold $3.1 billion in solar, nuclear and battery storage tax credits.
The company’s financials also reflected the rising cost of natural gas — relative to the cost of operating and maintaining the grid, natural gas fuel costs rose 20% since last year. Although these costs are considered an operating expense, the revenue Duke collects from fuel sales isn’t reflected in the company’s profits. State regulations allow Duke to pass fuel costs directly along to ratepayers, neither earning nor losing money.
