The N.C. Supreme Court threw out today the N.C. Utilities Commission’s decision in 2012 to grant Dominion North Carolina Power a 10.2 percent return-on-equity increase. ROE is a major component in determining regulated utility companies’ rates. Attorney General Roy Cooper had challenged the rate hike in court. While siding with Cooper on the ROE issue, the state’s highest court ruled in favor of the Utilities Commission in a rate-related appeal from Nucor, which uses more than 20 percent of the electricity Dominion sells in North Carolina.
Among other opinions released today from the N.C. Supreme Court:
- Justices reversed the N.C. Court of Appeals and ruled in favor of Wilson County in a dispute over whether governmental immunity protected the county from a lawsuit filed by a man injured while walking down steps of a county-leased office building. While the entire court agreed in this particular case, justices split 4-3 on whether the case should have an impact on future suits linked to “harms occurring on county or municipal property.”
