Reports in the Indy Weekly and the Charlotte Observer indicate that the public hearings on proposed rate increases are turning into referendums on the Cliffside power plant. The 13.5 percent rate increase under consideration by the North Carolina Utilities Commisision will help foot the construction bill for the 800-megawatt boiler  - now nearly 50% completed and coming in at over $2 billion in public dollars. From the Indy:

Opponents of Duke Energy’s increase for North Carolina customers are peeved about not only the amount—13.5 percent, on top of 4.5 percent already levied for fuel costs—but also about its purpose: Part of the money will go toward paying the financing costs for Cliffside, a $2.4 billion, 800-megawatt, coal-fired power plant in Rutherford County near Charlotte. Skeptics have long contended that if state policymakers and utilities focused on energy efficiency, conservation and renewable energy, Cliffside would be unnecessary; the N.C. Utilities Commission agreed, in part, when in 2007 it denied Duke Energy’s request to build two Cliffside plants.