Duke Energy 10-Q 2022-03-31

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2022

OR

For the transition period from to

Commission file number			Registrant, State of Incorporation or Organization, Address of Principal Executive Offices and Telephone Number						IRS Employer Identification Number
1-32853			DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION						20-2777218

(a Delaware corporation)

526 South Church Street

Charlotte, North Carolina 28202-1803

704-382-3853

(a North Carolina limited liability company)

526 South Church Street

Charlotte, North Carolina 28202-1803

704-382-3853

(a North Carolina corporation)

410 South Wilmington Street

Raleigh, North Carolina 27601-1748

704-382-3853

(a North Carolina limited liability company)

410 South Wilmington Street

Raleigh, North Carolina 27601-1748

704-382-3853

(a Florida limited liability company)

299 First Avenue North

St. Petersburg, Florida 33701

704-382-3853

(an Ohio corporation)

139 East Fourth Street

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

704-382-3853

(an Indiana limited liability company)

1000 East Main Street

Plainfield, Indiana 46168

704-382-3853

(a North Carolina corporation)

4720 Piedmont Row Drive

Charlotte, North Carolina 28210

704-364-3120

SECURITIES REGISTERED PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OF THE ACT:

Name of each exchange on

Registrant Title of each class Trading symbols which registered

Duke Energy Common Stock, $0.001 par value DUK New York Stock Exchange LLC

Duke Energy 5.625% Junior Subordinated Debentures due DUKB New York Stock Exchange LLC

September 15, 2078

Duke Energy Depositary Shares, each representing a 1/1,000th DUK PR A New York Stock Exchange LLC

interest in a share of 5.75% Series A Cumulative

Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock, par value

$0.001 per share

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Number of shares of common stock outstanding at April 30, 2022:

This combined Form 10-Q is filed separately by eight registrants: Duke Energy, Duke Energy Carolinas, Progress Energy, Duke Energy Progress, Duke Energy Florida, Duke Energy Ohio, Duke Energy Indiana and Piedmont (collectively the Duke Energy Registrants). Information contained herein relating to any individual registrant is filed by such registrant solely on its own behalf. Each registrant makes no representation as to information relating exclusively to the other registrants.

Duke Energy Carolinas, Progress Energy, Duke Energy Progress, Duke Energy Florida, Duke Energy Ohio, Duke Energy Indiana and Piedmont meet the conditions set forth in General Instructions H(1)(a) and (b) of Form 10-Q and are therefore filing this form with the reduced disclosure format specified in General Instructions H(2) of Form 10-Q.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This document includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions and can often be identified by terms and phrases that include “anticipate,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimate,” “expect,” “continue,” “should,” “could,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “will,” “potential,” “forecast,” “target,” “guidance,” “outlook” or other similar terminology. Various factors may cause actual results to be materially different than the suggested outcomes within forward-looking statements; accordingly, there is no assurance that such results will be realized. These factors include, but are not limited to:

◦The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic;

◦State, federal and foreign legislative and regulatory initiatives, including costs of compliance with existing and future environmental requirements, including those related to climate change, as well as rulings that affect cost and investment recovery or have an impact on rate structures or market prices;

◦The extent and timing of costs and liabilities to comply with federal and state laws, regulations and legal requirements related to coal ash remediation, including amounts for required closure of certain ash impoundments, are uncertain and difficult to estimate;

◦The ability to recover eligible costs, including amounts associated with coal ash impoundment retirement obligations, asset retirement and construction costs related to carbon emissions reductions, and costs related to significant weather events, and to earn an adequate return on investment through rate case proceedings and the regulatory process;

◦The costs of decommissioning nuclear facilities could prove to be more extensive than amounts estimated and all costs may not be fully recoverable through the regulatory process;

◦Costs and effects of legal and administrative proceedings, settlements, investigations and claims;

◦Industrial, commercial and residential growth or decline in service territories or customer bases resulting from sustained downturns of the economy and the economic health of our service territories or variations in customer usage patterns, including energy efficiency efforts, natural gas building and appliance electrification, and use of alternative energy sources, such as self-generation and distributed generation technologies;

◦Federal and state regulations, laws and other efforts designed to promote and expand the use of energy efficiency measures, natural gas electrification, and distributed generation technologies, such as private solar and battery storage, in Duke Energy service territories could result in a reduced number of customers, excess generation resources as well as stranded costs;

◦Advancements in technology;

◦Additional competition in electric and natural gas markets and continued industry consolidation;

◦The influence of weather and other natural phenomena on operations, including the economic, operational and other effects of severe storms, hurricanes, droughts, earthquakes and tornadoes, including extreme weather associated with climate change;

◦Changing investor, customer and other stakeholder expectations and demands including heightened emphasis on environmental, social and governance concerns;

◦The ability to successfully operate electric generating facilities and deliver electricity to customers including direct or indirect effects to the company resulting from an incident that affects the U.S. electric grid or generating resources;

◦Operational interruptions to our natural gas distribution and transmission activities;

◦The availability of adequate interstate pipeline transportation capacity and natural gas supply;

◦The impact on facilities and business from a terrorist attack, cybersecurity threats, data security breaches, operational accidents, information technology failures or other catastrophic events, such as fires, explosions, pandemic health events or other similar occurrences;

◦The inherent risks associated with the operation of nuclear facilities, including environmental, health, safety, regulatory and financial risks, including the financial stability of third-party service providers;

◦The timing and extent of changes in commodity prices and interest rates and the ability to recover such costs through the regulatory process, where appropriate, and their impact on liquidity positions and the value of underlying assets;

◦The results of financing efforts, including the ability to obtain financing on favorable terms, which can be affected by various factors, including credit ratings, interest rate fluctuations, compliance with debt covenants and conditions, an individual utility's generation mix, and general market and economic conditions;

◦Credit ratings of the Duke Energy Registrants may be different from what is expected;

◦Declines in the market prices of equity and fixed-income securities and resultant cash funding requirements for defined benefit pension plans, other post-retirement benefit plans and nuclear decommissioning trust funds;

◦Construction and development risks associated with the completion of the Duke Energy Registrants’ capital investment projects, including risks related to financing, obtaining and complying with terms of permits, meeting construction budgets and schedules and satisfying operating and environmental performance standards, as well as the ability to recover costs from customers in a timely manner, or at all;

◦Changes in rules for regional transmission organizations, including changes in rate designs and new and evolving capacity markets, and risks related to obligations created by the default of other participants;

◦The ability to control operation and maintenance costs;

◦The level of creditworthiness of counterparties to transactions;

◦The ability to obtain adequate insurance at acceptable costs;

◦Employee workforce factors, including the potential inability to attract and retain key personnel;

◦The ability of subsidiaries to pay dividends or distributions to Duke Energy Corporation holding company (the Parent);

◦The performance of projects undertaken by our nonregulated businesses and the success of efforts to invest in and develop new opportunities;

◦The effect of accounting pronouncements issued periodically by accounting standard-setting bodies;

◦The impact of U.S. tax legislation to our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows and our credit ratings;

◦The impacts from potential impairments of goodwill or equity method investment carrying values;

◦Asset or business acquisitions and dispositions, including our ability to successfully consummate the second closing of the minority investment in Duke Energy Indiana, may not yield the anticipated benefits;

◦The actions of activist shareholders could disrupt our operations, impact our ability to execute on our business strategy, or cause fluctuations in the trading price of our common stock; and

◦The ability to implement our business strategy, including its carbon emission reduction goals.

Additional risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in the Duke Energy Registrants' reports filed with the SEC and available at the SEC's website at sec.gov. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events described in the forward-looking statements might not occur or might occur to a different extent or at a different time than described. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and the Duke Energy Registrants expressly disclaim an obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Glossary of Terms

The following terms or acronyms used in this Form 10-Q are defined below:

DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

(Unaudited)

See Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income

(Unaudited)

(a)Net of income tax impacts of approximately $32 million and $8 million for the three months ended March 31, 2022, and 2021, respectively.

See Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements

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The following combined Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations is separately filed by Duke Energy and Duke Energy Carolinas, Progress Energy, Duke Energy Progress, Duke Energy Florida, Duke Energy Ohio, Duke Energy Indiana and Piedmont. However, none of the registrants make any representation as to information related solely to Duke Energy or the Subsidiary Registrants of Duke Energy other than itself.

DUKE ENERGY

Duke Energy is an energy company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Duke Energy operates in the U.S. primarily through its subsidiaries, Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress, Duke Energy Florida, Duke Energy Ohio, Duke Energy Indiana and Piedmont. When discussing Duke Energy’s consolidated financial information, it necessarily includes the results of the Subsidiary Registrants, which along with Duke Energy are collectively referred to as the Duke Energy Registrants.

Management’s Discussion and Analysis should be read in conjunction with the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes for the three months ended March 31, 2022, and with Duke Energy’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Executive Overview

Advancing Our Clean Energy Transformation

During the first quarter, we continued to execute on our clean energy transformation, delivering strong, sustainable value for shareholders, customers, communities and employees.

• We’re targeting energy generated from coal to represent less than 5% by 2030 and a full exit by 2035, subject to regulatory approvals. We’ve made strong progress in reducing carbon emissions from electricity generation (a 44% reduction from 2005) and have committed to do more (at least 50% reduction by 2030 and net-zero by 2050).

• We continued to execute financings under our Sustainable Financing Framework, raising approximately $2 billion during the quarter under the structure, with proceeds being allocated to eligible projects such as electric grid investments that support the deployment of renewables, new solar generation and battery storage, storm hardening and electric vehicle infrastructure, as well as expenditures that enable opportunities for diverse and small businesses.

Regulatory Activity. During the first quarter of 2022, we continued to monitor developments while moving our regulatory strategy forward. See Note 3 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, "Regulatory Matters," for additional information.

• In April 2022, the MGP Settlement was approved without modification by the PUCO. The MGP Settlement resolved certain issues related to MGP remediation costs and the Tax Act as it related to Duke Energy Ohio’s natural gas operations.

• In April 2022, Piedmont Natural Gas filed a request with the South Carolina Public Service Commission to recover recent capital investments and update its operating costs and billing rates through a general rate case proceeding.

• In March 2022, the Indiana Supreme Court issued an opinion, which absent IURC preapproval of deferred accounting treatment determined DEI could not recover coal ash closure costs incurred between base rate cases. In connection with the rate case application filed in Indiana in 2019 by Duke Energy Indiana, the IURC issued an order in June 2020, which among other things provided for recovery of approximately $211 million of certain coal ash closure costs incurred by DEI prior to the IURC Order. The Court remanded the matter back to the IURC for proceedings consistent with the opinion. Duke Energy Indiana filed a request for rehearing with the Supreme Court on April 11, 2022.

• In February 2022, the NCUC adopted rules to govern the application and review process for the PBR authorized under HB 951. In April 2022, the NCUC adopted rules to govern the securitization of 50% of the North Carolina retail portion of the remaining net book value of retiring coal plants pursuant to HB 951. The rules are constructive and consistent with the policy objectives of HB 951. We remain engaged in next steps including developing an initial carbon reduction plan.

• In January 2022, the NCUC issued an order approving the stipulation of partial settlement related to the 2021 Piedmont North Carolina Rate Case, which included a base rate increase of $67 million, subject to completion of the Robeson County LNG facility and the Pender Onslow County expansion project.

Matters Impacting Future Results

The matters discussed herein could materially impact the future operating results, financial condition and cash flows of the Duke Energy Registrants and Business Segments.

Regulatory Matters

Coal Ash Costs

Future spending of coal ash costs, including amounts recorded for depreciation and liability accretion, is expected to continue to be deferred and recovered in future rate cases or rider filings. The majority of spend is expected to occur over the next 15-20 years.

Duke Energy Indiana has interpreted the CCR rule to identify the coal ash basin sites impacted and has assessed the amounts of coal ash subject to the rule and a method of compliance. In 2020, the Hoosier Environmental Council filed a petition challenging the Indiana Department of Environmental Management's (IDEM) partial approval of five of Duke Energy Indiana’s ash pond site closure plans at Gallagher Station. The petition does not challenge the other basin closures approved by IDEM at other Indiana stations. Interpretation of the requirements of the CCR rule is subject to further legal challenges and regulatory approvals, which could result in additional ash basin closure requirements, higher costs of compliance and greater AROs. Additionally, Duke Energy Indiana has retired facilities that are not subject to the CCR rule. Duke Energy Indiana may incur costs at these facilities to comply with environmental regulations or to mitigate risks associated with on-site storage of coal ash. In January 2022, Duke Energy Indiana received a letter from the EPA regarding interpretation of the CCR rule. See Note 4 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, "Commitments and Contingencies" for more information.

Commercial Renewables

Duke Energy continues to monitor recoverability of renewable merchant plants located in the ERCOT West market and in the PJM West market, due to fluctuating market pricing and long-term forecasted energy prices. Based on the most recent recoverability test, the carrying value approximated the aggregate estimated future undiscounted cash flows for the assets under review. A continued decline in energy market pricing or other factors unfavorably impacting the economics would likely result in a future impairment. Impairment of these assets could result in adverse impacts. For additional information, see Note 2 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, "Business Segments."

In February 2021, a severe winter storm impacted certain Commercial Renewables assets in Texas. Extreme weather conditions limited the ability for these solar and wind facilities to generate and sell electricity into the ERCOT market. Duke Energy has been named in multiple lawsuits arising out of this winter storm. For more information, see Note 4 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, "Commitments and Contingencies."

Supply Chain

Duke Energy is monitoring supply chain disruptions, including the cost and availability of key components of planned generating facilities, which could impact the timing of in-service or economics of renewable projects and may result in adverse impacts on operating results. The Company is also monitoring the impacts on future financial results and clean energy goals due to the availability of solar panels as a result of the U.S. Department of Commerce investigation into the potential circum

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For an in-depth discussion of the Duke Energy Registrants' market risks, see “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk” in Item 7 of the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the Duke Energy Registrants. During the three months ended March 31, 2022, there were no material changes to the Duke Energy Registrants' disclosures about market risk.

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Duke Energy Registrants in the reports they file or submit under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified by the SEC rules and forms.

Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed by the Duke Energy Registrants in the reports they file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Under the supervision and with the participation of management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, the Duke Energy Registrants have evaluated the effectiveness of their disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rule 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of March 31, 2022, and, based upon this evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that these controls and procedures are effective in providing reasonable assurance of compliance.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Under the supervision and with the participation of management, including the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, the Duke Energy Registrants have evaluated changes in internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act) that occurred during the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2022, and have concluded no change has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, internal control over financial reporting.

ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

For information regarding material legal proceedings, including regulatory and environmental matters, see Note 3, "Regulatory Matters," and Note 4, "Commitments and Contingencies," to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements. For additional information, see Item 3, "Legal Proceedings," in Duke Energy's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

In addition to the other information set forth in this report, careful consideration should be given to the factors discussed in Part I, “Item 1A. Risk Factors” in the Duke Energy Registrants' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which could materially affect the Duke Energy Registrants’ financial condition or future results.

ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

None.

Exhibits filed herein are designated by an asterisk (). All exhibits not so designated are incorporated by reference to a prior filing, as indicated. Items constituting management contracts or compensatory plans or arrangements are designated by a double asterisk (). The company agrees to furnish upon request to the commission a copy of any omitted schedules or exhibits upon request on all items designated by a triple asterisk ().