The following note was sent this week to members of the N.C. General Assembly regarding Senate Bill 266.

As you know, Senate Bill 266: The Power Bill Reduction Act is a key vote being scored by the NC Chamber. We urge you to consider overriding its veto to ensure North Carolina’s energy infrastructure can support our state’s rapid growth.

The cost to ratepayers cited in the veto message was based on an analysis that is overly simplistic and comprised of worst-case scenarios. It is designed to serve as a scare tactic, wildly overexaggerating gas prices and completely ignoring the cost to build renewable infrastructure and ensure reliability.

There is also concern over a perceived backtrack on carbon emission reduction. This is not the case. Eliminating the interim target does not remove the need for new renewable resources to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. It only allows for a more reasonable trajectory of new renewable resource additions between now and 2050.

In fact, keeping the interim reduction target in place would increase costs for customers because it is a constraint on the overall planning process, requiring significant levels of new renewable resources to be front-loaded into the plan. If the 70% interim target is left in place, recent changes in federal tax policy for renewable energy sources could actually have a significant upward cost impact, whereas implementing the policies in S266 will create savings significantly higher than the Public Staff’s original $13 billion estimate.

This is an incredibly nuanced issue, and our state cannot afford to cherry pick its data. S266 upholds North Carolina’s commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, as set forth in the bipartisan House Bill 951, passed in 2021.

We urge you to override this veto to ensure North Carolina’s energy infrastructure can support our state’s rapid growth.