The North Carolina Utilities Commission is an agency of the State of North Carolina created by the General Assembly to regulate the rates and services of all public utilities in North Carolina. It is the oldest regulatory body in state government. The present Commission evolved from the Railroad Commission which was created in 1891 and given authority to regulate railroad, steam boat, and telegraph companies.
Today, the Commission regulates electric, telephone (including payphone service and shared tenant service), natural gas, water, wastewater, water resale, household goods transportation, buses, brokers, and ferryboats. To a limited degree, the Commission regulates electric membership corporations, small power producers, and electric merchant plants. The Commission is also responsible for administering programs in North Carolina to ensure the safety of natural gas pipelines. The Commission does not regulate telephone membership corporations, cable TV, satellite, commercial mobile radio service, cellular, pagers, or data and internet service providers. For more information about the Commission, visit our History and Description page.
Mission Statement
The Commission is responsible to both the public and utilities and, by law (G. S. 62-2), must regulate in a manner designed to implement the policy of the State of North Carolina to:
- Provide fair regulation of public utilities in the interest of the public.
- Promote the inherent advantage of regulated public utilities.
- Promote adequate, reliable, and economical utility service.
- Promote least cost energy planning.
- Provide just and reasonable rates and charges for public utility services and promote conservation of energy.
- Assure that facilities necessary to meet future growth can be financed on reasonable and fair terms.
- Encourage and promote harmony between utility companies and their customers.
- Foster planned growth of public utility services.
- Coordinate energy supply facilities with the state's development.
- Cooperate with other states and the federal government in providing interstate and intrastate public utility service and reliability of energy supply.
- Facilitate the construction of facilities in and the extension of natural gas service to unserved areas.