If you’re buying in Wilmington, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, or anywhere else in New Hanover or Brunswick County that Duke Energy Progress serves, this belongs in your pre-closing budget conversation — not as an afterthought, but as a real line item. Duke Energy Progress has been working through rate cases with the North Carolina Utilities Commission, and the trajectory has been consistently upward. The question for a buyer isn’t whether rates are going up. It’s how to factor what’s already happened and what’s coming into what you’re actually willing to pay for a property.

I’m not a utility analyst. But I’ve sat across from enough buyers who were blindsided by their first full summer electric bill on the Carolina coast that I know this conversation needs to happen earlier.

What the Rate Increases Actually Mean in Dollar Terms

Duke Energy Progress received approval for multi-year rate increases as part of a settlement structure that phases in increases over time rather than hitting ratepayers all at once. Last I checked, residential base rates had increased meaningfully over the prior few years — in the range of 10 to 20 percent cumulatively, depending on when you’re counting from — and additional increases were still scheduled to work through the system. Worth confirming the current effective rate with Duke Energy Progress directly before you close on anything, because those numbers move.

Here’s why this hits coastal buyers harder than it hits someone buying inland:

A house that runs $180/month in electric in January can easily run $350–$450/month in July. Some larger or older properties run higher. Get 12 months of utility history from the seller if you can — not just the most recent bill.

How to Read What You’re Actually Looking At

Sellers and their agents will sometimes present utility costs using winter bills or annual averages that smooth over the seasonal spike. Ask for the actual monthly statements, or ask your agent to make it a disclosure request. If the seller used the property as a vacation rental, the bills may reflect occupancy patterns rather than consistent use — which can make costs look lower than they’ll run for a full-time resident.

For a baseline: a 1,500-square-foot home in moderate condition in the Wilmington area might run somewhere in the range of $2,500–$3,500 annually in electric costs at current rates, but that’s a rough sketch and conditions vary widely. A 2,800-square-foot waterfront home with older windows and no recent HVAC upgrade? Do not assume it scales linearly. Get the bills.

If the property has solar panels, ask for documentation on the system: its age, the installer, whether there’s a lease or a loan attached to it, and what net metering arrangement is in place with Duke Energy. A leased solar system is an encumbrance that transfers with the property, and the terms matter.

What to Check Before You Close

Run through this before you sign off:

  1. Request 12 months of utility bills — monthly, not averaged — as part of due diligence.
  2. Confirm the HVAC age and condition. If it’s within a few years of end-of-life, factor replacement into your budget. A new system in a coastal home commonly runs $8,000–$15,000 installed, depending on size and configuration.
  3. Look at the insulation and window condition, especially on older cottages. A home inspector can flag obvious issues, but an energy audit gives you a real picture.
  4. Ask whether the property is on Duke Energy Progress or another provider. Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation serves parts of Brunswick County, for example. Rates and programs differ.
  5. Check for any pending rate adjustments with the NC Utilities Commission. Duke’s rate cases are public record and worth a quick look if you’re closing months out.
  6. Factor in any HOA or community utility arrangements — some Wrightsville or Figure Eight area properties have shared systems or billing structures that complicate the picture.

This is also worth considering alongside property insurance, which continues to climb in New Hanover and Brunswick Counties. The flood insurance picture for waterfront properties in this region isn’t getting cheaper either, and your total monthly carrying cost is the sum of all of it.

The Efficiency Play

Some buyers are asking sellers to make HVAC upgrades or window improvements as a condition of sale. That’s a reasonable ask on an older property where the utility bills are clearly elevated. Sellers are sometimes willing to negotiate a credit rather than do the work themselves — which at least gives you control over timing and contractor selection.

Duke Energy Progress does offer rebate programs for qualifying efficiency upgrades. Last I checked, these covered things like smart thermostats, HVAC replacements, and insulation improvements, though the program terms and available incentives change, so verify directly with Duke before building those numbers into your offer calculus.

One other thing worth knowing if you’re also paying attention to what’s happening in nearby Southport: the data center moratorium discussion underway there is partly a response to concerns about grid demand and local infrastructure. Large commercial loads on a coastal grid that’s already dealing with storm resilience issues aren’t a neutral factor for residential ratepayers down the line.

Your Next Step

Pull the seller’s utility bills before your due diligence period closes. Not just one bill — twelve months. Then compare that history against the HVAC age, the insulation condition, and the square footage, and decide whether the number is realistic for how you intend to use the property. If the bills look low and the system looks old, ask why. Sometimes there’s a good answer. Sometimes the place was empty for eight months.

The rate environment is what it is, and it isn’t trending toward cheaper. Build it into your carrying cost estimate the same way you’d build in insurance and taxes — as a real number, not a hopeful one.