Duke Energy 10-Q 2024-03-31

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2024

OR

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number			Registrant, State of Incorporation or Organization, Address of Principal Executive Offices, Zip Code and Telephone Number						IRS Employer Identification No.
1-32853			DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION						20-2777218

(a Delaware corporation)

525 South Tryon Street

Charlotte, North Carolina 28202

800-488-3853

(a North Carolina limited liability company)

525 South Tryon Street

Charlotte, North Carolina 28202

800-488-3853

(a North Carolina corporation)

411 Fayetteville Street

Raleigh, North Carolina 27601

800-488-3853

(a North Carolina limited liability company)

411 Fayetteville Street

Raleigh, North Carolina 27601

800-488-3853

(a Florida limited liability company)

299 First Avenue North

St. Petersburg, Florida 33701

800-488-3853

(an Ohio corporation)

139 East Fourth Street

Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

800-488-3853

(an Indiana limited liability company)

1000 East Main Street

Plainfield, Indiana 46168

800-488-3853

(a North Carolina corporation)

525 South Tryon Street

Charlotte, North Carolina 28202

800-488-3853

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

Duke Energy 3.10% Senior Notes due 2028 DUK 28A New York Stock Exchange LLC

Duke Energy 3.85% Senior Notes due 2034 DUK 34 New York Stock Exchange LLC

Duke Energy 3.75% Senior Notes due 2031 DUK 31A New York Stock Exchange LLC

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, 2024:

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

Glossary of Terms

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

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 ability to implement our business strategy, including our carbon emission reduction goals;

◦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;

◦The impact of extraordinary external events, such as the pandemic health event resulting from COVID-19, and their collateral consequences, including the disruption of global supply chains or the economic activity in our service territories;

◦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, reduced customer usage due to cost pressures from inflation or fuel costs, 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 and costs related thereto;

◦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 United States 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 or other attack, war, vandalism, cybersecurity threats, data security breaches, operational events, 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, timing and receipt of necessary regulatory approvals, 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 businesses and the success of efforts to invest in and develop new opportunities;

◦The effect of accounting and reporting pronouncements issued periodically by accounting standard-setting bodies and the SEC;

◦The impact of United States 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 may not yield the anticipated benefits; and

◦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.

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.

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)

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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, 2024, and with Duke Energy’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Executive Overview

Advancing Our Clean Energy Transition. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, we continued to execute on our clean energy transition, remaining focused on reliability and affordability while delivering increasingly clean energy and providing strong, sustainable value for shareholders, customers, communities and employees.

• In January 2024, we filed supplemental modeling and analysis with the NCUC and PSCSC related to our combined systemwide Carolinas Resource Plan filed in August 2023. These updates were necessary due to substantially increased load forecasts resulting from continued economic development successes in the Carolinas occurring since the systemwide integrated resource plan was prepared. In March 2024, we filed for CPCNs for new generation facilities at the sites of the current Marshall Steam Station and Roxboro Plant in the Carolinas. Our energy transition strategy continues to focus on delivering a path to cleaner energy in a manner that protects grid reliability and affordability, all while meeting the energy demands of the growing and economically vibrant communities that we serve.

• As we continue to strengthen our grid and bring clean energy resources online, our customers are important partners in our clean energy future. In January 2024, we received approval for PowerPairSM, a new incentive-based pilot program for installing home solar generation with battery energy storage in our Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress North Carolina service territories. Enrollment options for residential customers that participate in the pilot include a one-time incentive of up to $9,000 for the installation of a solar plus battery system.

Regulatory Activity. During the three months ended March 31, 2024, we continued to move our regulatory strategy forward. See Note 4 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, "Regulatory Matters," for additional information.

• In April 2024, we filed formal requests for new base rates across several jurisdictions including Duke Energy Florida, Duke Energy Indiana and Piedmont.

• Duke Energy Florida filed a three-year rate plan that would begin in January 2025, once its current base rate settlement agreement concludes at the end of 2024, and proposed approximately $4.9 billion in investments to reduce outages, expand solar generation, and increase generation unit efficiency. The overall additional base rate revenue requirement would be $820 million over the three-year period and, if approved by the FPSC, will facilitate improved grid reliability for a growing customer base, reduced fuel consumption at existing power plants, and the construction of 14 new solar plants, providing 1,050 MW of clean energy to Florida's grid.

• Duke Energy Indiana filed a general rate case with the IURC requesting an overall increase in revenues of $492 million. This is the first base rate case filed by Duke Energy Indiana since 2019 and reflects strategic investments to improve grid reliability and security, serve a growing customer base, and meet environmental regulations. These investments, which include approximately 345 miles of new power lines expected to be constructed through 2025, will support the more than 60,000 new customers anticipated since our last base rate case.

• Piedmont filed a general rate case with the NCUC requesting an overall increase in revenues of $159 million. This is the first base rate case filed by Piedmont in North Carolina since 2021 and reflects significant investments to support ongoing service reliability, system growth, and compliance with federal pipeline safety regulations in addition to two energy reliability centers in eastern North Carolina.

• Also, in April 2024, Duke Energy Progress issued $177 million of storm recovery bonds, our first issuance under South Carolina's 2022 securitization legislation, which provided the necessary framework for us to lower the bill impacts on our customers related to critical storm restoration activities.

• In January 2024, Duke Energy Carolinas filed a South Carolina rate case requesting an overall increase in revenues of approximately $323 million, prior to proposed mitigation efforts including the acceleration of the return of certain EDIT balances. This is the first base rate case filed by Duke Energy Carolinas in the state since 2018 and reflects the South Carolina retail allocation of significant investments, including approximately $1.5 billion of transmission and distribution assets and certain coal ash related compliance costs.

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 be recovered in future rate cases or rider filings. The majority of spend is expected to occur over the next 10 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 established methods of compliance. Interpretation of the requirements of the CCR Rule is subject to further legal challenges and regulatory approvals, which could result in additional coal ash basin closure requirements, higher costs of compliance and greater asset retirement obligations. 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. For more information, see "Other Matters" and Note 4 to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, "Regulatory Matters."

Fuel Cost Recovery

As a result of rapidly rising commodity costs during 2022, including natural gas, fuel and purchased power prices in excess of amounts included in fuel-related revenues led to an increase in the under collection of fuel costs from customers in jurisdictions including Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress and Duke Energy Florida. These amounts have been deferred in regulatory assets and impacted the cash flows of the registrants, including increased borrowings to temporarily finance related expenditures until recovery. Regulatory filings have been made and approved for recovery of all remaining uncollected 2022 fuel costs. Across all jurisdictions, Duke Energy is currently on pace to recover approximately $1.9

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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 Duke Energy's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.

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, 2024, and, based on 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, 2024, and have concluded no change has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, internal controls over financial reporting.

ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

The Duke Energy Registrants are, from time to time, parties to various lawsuits and regulatory proceedings in the ordinary course of their business. For information regarding legal proceedings, including regulatory and environmental matters, see Note 4, "Regulatory Matters," and Note 5, "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, 2023.

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's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, which could materially affect the Duke Energy Registrants’ financial condition or future results. The information presented below updates, and should be read in conjunction with, the risk factors and information disclosed in Duke Energy's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023.

BUSINESS STRATEGY RISKS

Duke Energy’s future results could be adversely affected if it is unable to implement its business strategy including achieving its carbon emissions reduction goals.

Duke Energy’s results of operations depend, in significant part, on the extent to which it can implement its business strategy successfully. Duke Energy's clean energy transition, which includes achieving net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050, modernizing the regulatory construct, transforming the customer experience, and digital transformation, is subject to business, policy, regulatory, technology, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond its control and may make those goals difficult to achieve.

Federal or state policies could be enacted that restrict the availability of, and increase the costs associated with the use of, fuels or generation technologies, such as natural gas or nuclear power, that enable Duke Energy to reduce its carbon emissions. For example, new EPA rules issued in April 2024 impose stringent GHG emission reduction standards, revised air toxic limits, and wastewater discharge limitations that may impact our carbon-reduction targets, and operational timeline and costs associated with certain new and existing generation. Supportive policies may be needed to facilitate the siting and cost recovery of transmission and distribution upgrades needed to accommodate the build out of large volumes of renewables and energy storage. Further, the approval of our state regulators will be necessary for the Company to continue to retire existing carbon emitting assets or make investments in new generating capacity. The Company may be constrained by the ability to procure resources or labor needed to build new generation at a reasonable price as well as to construct projects on time. In addition, new technologies that are not yet commercially available or are unproven at utility-scale will likely be needed, including carbon capture and sequestration and supporting infrastructure as well as new resources capable of following electric load over long durations such as advanced nuclear, hydrogen and long-duration storage. If these technologies are not developed or are not available at reasonable prices, or if we invest in early stage technologies that are then supplanted by technological breakthroughs, Duke Energy’s ability to achieve a net-zero target by 2050 at a cost-effective price could be at risk.

Achieving our carbon reduction goals will require continued operation of our existing carbon-free technologies including nuclear and renewables. The rapid transition to and expansion of certain low-carbon resources, such as renewables without cost-effective storage, may challenge our ability to meet customer expectations of reliability and affordability in a carbon constrained environment, particularly as demand increases. Our nuclear fleet is central to our ability to meet these objectives and customer expectations. We are continuing to seek to renew the operating licenses of the 11 reactors we operate at six nuclear stations for an additional 20 years, extending their operating lives to and beyond midcentury. Failure to receive approval from the NRC for the relicensing of any of these reactors could affect our ability to achieve a net-zero target by 2050.

As a consequence, Duke Energy may not be able to fully implement or realize the anticipated results of its energy transition strategy, which may have an adverse effect on its financial condition.

REGULATORY, LEGISLATIVE AND LEGAL RISKS

The Duke Energy Registrants are subject to numerous environmental laws and regulations requiring significant capital expenditures that can increase the cost of operations, and which may impact or limit business plans, or cause exposure to environmental liabilities.

The Duke Energy Registrants are subject to numerous environmental laws and regulations affecting many aspects of their present and future operations, including CCRs, air emissions, water quality, wastewater discharges, solid waste and hazardous waste. For example, the new EPA rules issued in April 2024, among other things, impose stringent GHG emissions limitations on existing coal plants and new natural gas plants and more stringent air toxic limits on existing coal plants, increase limitations on wastewater discharge, and impose groundwater monitoring and corrective action requirements on previously unregulated coal ash sources at regulated facilities (CCR Management Units) and inactive surface impoundments at retired generating facilities (Legacy CCR Surface Impoundments). Potential legal challenges to such rules may not be successful, and adherence to these rules may increase the cost of compliance, impact generation resource mix and carbon-reduction targets, and negatively impact customer reliability and affordability due to such rules' imposition of stringent GHG emissions limitations and reliance on carbon capture technologies that are not yet adequately demonstrated at utility-scale. These and other environmental laws and regulations can result in increased capital, operating and other costs. These laws and regulations generally require the Duke Energy Registrants to obtain and comply with a wide variety of environmental licenses, permits, inspections and other approvals. Compliance with environmental laws and regulations can require significant expenditures, including expenditures for cleanup costs and damages arising from contaminated properties. Failure to comply with environmental regulations may result in the imposition of fines, penalties and injunctive measures affecting operating assets, as well as reputational damage. The steps the Duke Energy Registrants could be required to take to ensure their facilities are in compliance could be prohibitively expensive. As a result, the Duke Energy Registrants may be required to shut down or alter the operation of their facilities, which may cause the Duke Energy Registrants to incur losses. Further, the Duke Energy Registrants may not be successful in recovering capital and operating costs incurred to comply with new environmental regulations through existing regulatory rate structures and their contracts with customers. Also, the Duke Energy Registrants may not be able to obtain or maintain from time to time all required environmental regulatory approvals for their operating assets or development projects. Delays in obtaining any required environmental regulatory approvals, failure to obtain and comply with them or changes in environmental laws or regulations to more stringent compliance levels could, and are likely to, result in additional costs of operation for existing facilities or development of new facilities being prevented, delayed or subject to additional costs. The costs to comply with environmental laws and regulations could have a material effect on the Duke Energy Registrants’ results of operations, financial position or cash flows.

The EPA has issued or proposed federal regulations, including the new rules issued in April 2024, governing the management of cooling water intake structures, wastewater, CCR management units, air toxics emissions, and CO2 emissions. New state legislation in response to such regulations could impose carbon reduction goals that are more aggressive than the Company's plans. These regulations may require the Duke Energy Registrants to make additional capital expenditures and increase operating and maintenance costs.

OPERATIONAL RISKS

The reputation and financial condition of the Duke Energy Registrants could be negatively impacted due to their obligations to comply with federal and state regulations, laws, and other legal requirements that govern the operations, assessments, storage, closure, remediation, disposal and monitoring relating to CCR, the high costs and new rate impacts associated with implementing these new CCR-related requirements and the strategies and methods necessary to implement these requirements in compliance with these legal obligations.

As a result of electricity produced for decades at coal-fired power plants, the Duke Energy Registrants manage large amounts of CCR that are primarily stored in dry storage within landfills or combined with water in surface impoundments, all in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. A CCR-related operational incident could have a material adverse impact on the reputation and results of operations, financial position and cash flows of the Duke Energy Registrants.

During 2015, EPA regulations were enacted related to the management of CCR from power plants. These regulations classify CCR as nonhazardous waste under the RCRA and apply to electric generating sites with new and existing landfills and, new and existing surface impoundments, and establish requirements regarding landfill design, structural integrity design and assessment criteria for surface impoundments, groundwater monitoring, protection and remedial procedures and other operational and reporting procedures for the disposal and management of CCR. In addition to the federal regulations, CCR landfills and surface impoundments will continue to be regulated by existing state laws, regulations and permits, as well as additional legal requirements that may be imposed in the future, such as the settlement reached with the NCDEQ to excavate seven of the nine remaining coal ash basins in North Carolina, and partially excavate the remaining two, and the EPA's January 11, 2022, issuance of a letter interpreting the CCR Rule, including its applicability and closure provisions. Most recently, in April 2024, the EPA issued its final Legacy Surface Impoundment Rule, which significantly expands the scope of the 2015 CCR Rule to apply to legacy CCR surface impoundments (inactive impoundments at retired facilities) and CCR management units (previously unregulated coal ash sources at regulated facilities). These federal and state laws, regulations and other legal requirements may require or result in additional expenditures, including increased operating and maintenance costs, which could affect the results of operations, financial position and cash flows of the Duke Energy Registrants. The Duke Energy Registrants will continue to seek full cost recovery for expenditures through the normal ratemaking process with state and federal utility commissions, who permit recovery in rates of necessary and prudently incurred costs associated with the Duke Energy Registrants’ regulated operations, and through other wholesale contracts with terms that contemplate recovery of such costs, although there is no guarantee of full cost recovery. In addition, the timing for and amount of recovery of such costs could have a material adverse impact on Duke Energy's cash flows.

The Duke Energy Registrants have recognized significant AROs related to these CCR-related requirements. Closure activities began in 2015 at the four sites specified as high priority by the Coal Ash Act and at the W.S. Lee Steam Station site in South Carolina in connection with other legal requirements. Excavation at these sites involves movement of CCR materials to off-site locations for use as structural fill, to appropriately engineered off-site or on-site lined landfills or conversion of the ash for beneficial use. Duke Energy has completed excavation of coal ash at the four high-priority North Carolina sites. At other sites, planning and closure methods have been studied and factored into the estimated retirement and management costs, and closure activities have commenced. As the closure and CCR management work progresses and final closure plans and corrective action measures are developed and approved at each site, the scope and complexity of work and the amount of CCR material could be greater than estimates and could, therefore, materially increase compliance expenditures and rate impacts.

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

None.

During the three months ended March 31, 2024, no director or officer of the Company adopted, terminated or modified a Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement or non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement, as each term is defined in Item 408(a) of Regulation S-K.

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 ().