A well attended rally held in Charlotte on March 31 called for Duke Energy to drop its dirty rate hike. Dozens of concerned community members joined leaders from environmental and social justice groups to demand Duke end unfair rate increases to fund dirty coal. The rally comes days after Attorney General Roy Cooper announced his decision to appeal the 7% rate hike because of the economic hardship the increase will pose.
“Duke Energy needs to start being a good neighbor to North Carolinians, instead of investing in dirty and dangerous coal and dumping the bill on ratepayers who can ill afford it. North Carolina could be a leader in clean energy if Duke just put its money where its mouth is and started investing in clean, renewable energy,” said North Carolina Greenpeace organizer Monica Embrey.
The rally, which took place at Duke Energy Headquarters, called on Duke Energy to stop profiting from pollution. It was hosted by environmental, economic and social justice groups such as Clean Air Carolina, Action NC, Greenpeace USA, NAACP Charlotte Chapter, and Occupy Charlotte. Greenpeace delivered apetition with over 4000 signatures demanding Duke cut the greenwash and startinvesting in renewables here in North Carolina. 
Hector Vaca, Charlotte Director of Action NC said “In this economy, with so many out of work and underemployed, poor people can’t afford to keep paying more and more on our utility bills. Many are already having to choose between paying electricity bills and medical bills.”