NORTH CAROLINA — A former lead regulator of the commission charged with overseeing Duke Energy joined a law firm that frequently represents Duke and other utilities in rate cases and other matters before the agency.
International law firm McGuireWoods announced it hired former North Carolina Utilities Commission chair Charlotte Mitchell as a partner last month. Mitchell chaired the agency from 2019 to 2025 after former Gov. Roy Cooper appointed her in 2018.
McGuireWoods frequently represents Duke Energy and other private firms before the Utilities Commission, which is responsible for regulating rates and services of investor-owned public utilities including Duke Energy and Dominion. It also oversees pipeline safety and North Carolina’s transition to renewable energy under Duke’s Carbon Plan.
“[Mitchell] understands how regulators think and is keenly aware of the challenges our clients face in a changing environment,” McGuireWoods Energy Regulatory group co-director Vishwa Link said in the release. “Her unique perspective will be a valuable asset for our team and clients.”
McGuire’s utility practice includes utility rate cases, litigation, and obtaining Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for transmission financing. In its release, McGuire noted Mitchell’s new role comes shortly after hiring another former regulator, FERC Office of Enforcement director Jeremy Medovoy.
Port City Daily reached out to McGuire and Mitchell to ask for comment on revolving-door concerns, as well as if she would be involved in issues for clients regulated by the Utilities Commission. A response was not received by press.
NC Warn founder Jim Warren told Port City Daily he views Mitchell’s new position as part of a broader pattern of relationships between private firms and regulators charged with their oversight.
For example, former commission chair Edward Finley Jr. represented Duke as an attorney before his appointment. Southern Company Gas CEO Jim Kerr served on the Utilities Commission for eight years before joining McGuireWood’s energy industry team in 2014.
“All of this leads to the Utilities Commission being a rubber stamp regulator,” Warren said. “Duke Energy has gotten almost everything they want over many years, regardless of the political party or governor.”
McGuireWoods previously lobbied for Duke and its current clients include Dominion Energy. Former Duke leaders working with the firm include former energy regulatory director Brian Franklin in 2023 and former president of nuclear development Ellen Ruff.
McGuire served as Duke’s counsel in a broad range of issues including coal ash litigation, rate approval requests, clean energy transition plans, a suit to strike down EPA greenhouse gas reduction rules, and an ongoing antitrust suit.
Florida-based NTE Energy is alleging Duke monopolized the wholesale power market in North Carolina and unlawfully stifled competition against cheaper and cleaner providers. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Duke would need to face the claims in a jury trial last August.
The NC Chamber Legal Institute filed a brief supporting Duke in the suit. The spouse of the most recent nominee to the Utilities Commission is chair of the NC Chamber Legal Institute.
Duke is a top donor to the lobby group and its legislative priorities closely overlap with the utility; former NC Chamber of Commerce director of government affairs Peter Daniel became Duke’s government affairs chief last year. The lobby group recently expressed support for SB 261, a bill that would eliminate Duke’s carbon reduction goals and allow the utility to charge ratepayers for power plants still under construction.
The bill was introduced by recently-retired NC senator Paul Newton in March, who was Duke’s North Carolina president before joining the Senate. Newton previously helped negotiate carbon-reduction requirements in HB 951, a 2021 law requiring the utility to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 and reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 2005 levels by 2030.
The Utilities Commission approved Duke’s proposed carbon plan last fall. The plan allows Duke to delay its 2030 carbon-reduction goal and move forward with a major build-out of new natural gas infrastructure, solar, and nuclear power.
“NC Warn was among those who criticized HB 951,” Warren said. “Because they were never going to treat it as a real carbon reduction plan and the regulators never would have held them to it. All of that is playing out.”
On Wednesday, the Senate Agriculture, Energy, and Environment Committee approved the reappointment of Chris Ayers as the Utilities Commission’s chief of public staff. Ayers represented utilities for law firms Hunton & Williams and Poyner Spruill before joining the commission in 2013, leading former Representative Paul Luebke to vote against his appointment due to potential conflict of interest concerns. He took over the position from Robert Gruber, who went on to represent utilities for Poyner Spruill.