Outside the Durham County courthouse on Wednesday evening, a large crowd of onlookers watched in terror as a pair of evildoers stomped around, cackling as they did the one thing all great villains can’t resist: boast about their evil plan.

“I like to keep an eye on all my workers so no one gets a break,” said drag performer Jeff Bozos, imitating the Amazon founder of a similar name. Their partner-in-crime and fellow performer, Pay My Bills Gates, shuddered with joy.

“I love surveillance too, Bozos,” Pay My Bills Gates said. “I just love collecting tons of data for the U.S. government on all of you, and then we share it with ICE, and they use it to deport people.”

The assembled crowd was saved just in the nick of time by drag queen heroine Naomi Dix, who elegantly dispatched of the dastardly duo to rousing applause from the audience. 

The performers and onlookers—who traveled from around the state—were gathered at the courthouse to protest proposed rate increases by Duke Energy and the rise of high energy-consuming data centers used by tech behemoths like those portrayed in the skit. After the villains were quelled, the crowd went inside to give testimony against the proposed rate increases at a public hearing held by the North Carolina Utilities Commission 

Jeff Bozos and Pay My Bills Gates perform before a Durham hearing on Duke Energy’s request to raise its residential rates. Credit: Photo by Justin Laidlaw

“This is what community looks like when we come together here in the Bull City,” Dix said. “Your responsibility is not just showing up. Your responsibility is allowing your voice, the voice of those who do not have the strength to tell their stories, to be heard.”

Last November, Duke Energy Carolinas LLC, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, filed an application to adjust rates with the North Carolina Utilities Commission. The Utilities Commission, which has authority over those prices, has been holding public hearings around the state on the proposed increase, with the final one held in Durham on Wednesday. 

Duke Energy is proposing a residential rate increase of 16% for Duke Energy Carolinas customers and 18% for Duke Energy Progress customers. Ultimately, the Utilities Commission—taking into account public comments, expert testimony, and the company’s financial records—makes the decision. Attorney General Jeff Jackson said the energy company “overshot the mark” on its proposal.

The company says the increases are necessary to modernize and improve the resiliency of the grid, expand and diversify its power generation (including traditional and renewable sources), and cover the compliance costs associated with closing coal ash basins.

But the group—which included environmentalists, union workers, and local elected officials—gathered outside the courthouse argued energy costs are already too exorbitant for customers and believe the price hikes come down to a primary unifying concern: data centers.

“Let’s be honest about what is happening here: This is not about improving infrastructure, this is a transfer of wealth from North Carolina’s working class straight to Wall Street investors,” said Darrion Smith, representing local workers union UE 150. “For a union worker fighting for a fair wage or an elderly neighbor surviving on retirement benefits or a family struggling to rebuild their lives after the devastation of Hurricane Helene, that money is the difference between keeping the lights on or putting food on the table.”

According to a report from the North Carolina Energy Policy Task Force, Duke Energy’s energy load is projected to increase between 16% to 60% over the next 15 years, a substantial increase from the 7% increase over the last two decades. The report also states that data centers account for 80% of the projected energy demand, compared to other large industrial projects.

Pushback against data centers has been a galvanizing, and unifying, issue throughout the country, including the Triangle. The city of Durham and the town of Apex have issued moratoriums on the development of large-scale data centers.

“Seventy percent of Americans have said no to data centers,” said NC Environmental Justice Network board member Rania Masri. “That crosses the line: Democrat, Republican, Socialist, Green, Libertarian, Independent. I don’t know any other issue that has brought so many of us together as our opposition to data centers.”

The proposed rate increases would come on top of already rising electrical bills. According to the Energy Task Force, the average monthly residential electricity bill in North Carolina between 2010 and 2020 was relatively stable but has increased by approximately 22 percent between 2020 and 2025.

Duke Energy is the largest electricity utility provider in the state, serving nearly 3 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. The company reported roughly $4.9 billion in earnings last year.

During remarks prior to the hearing, Durham city councilor Nate Baker said that residents are already being financially squeezed and shouldn’t have to bear the burden of Duke Energy’s infrastructure costs while its profits continue to grow.

“Thanks to state and federal fiscal irresponsibility, a stagnating economy, a multi-billion dollar nonprofit here in Durham that doesn’t pay property or sales taxes, thanks to billions of dollars of property tax value that was wiped off the books by the Durham County Board of Equalization review on behalf of corporate landlords, Durham renters and homeowners are facing increasing costs without corresponding increasing services,” Baker said. “The people of this city are in crisis, while the wealthy keep using divide and conquer strategies to steal what little working people have.

As day turned to night, dozens of residents waited outside the courthouse for over an hour before being let inside to testify. The public hearing, scheduled for 7 p.m., eventually started about 30 minutes late because Utilities Commission members were late to arrive. Speakers were slowly let in and out of the building one to two at a time due to the limited capacity of the courtroom. 

Michelle “Meech” Carter, one of the many who spoke during the hearing, is a member of the League of Conservation Voters and helps administer the Energy Funds for All, which aims to “make clean energy funding opportunities accessible to every community in North Carolina and South Carolina.” Carter said they were on the brink of tears during the public hearing trying to describe for commissioners the strain rising Duke Energy bills has placed on the seniors and fixed-income residents they often work with. One woman’s bill amounted to 75% of her monthly income, Carter said. 

“And she is not an anomaly,” they said. “I work with people like this all the time. They apply for crisis funding. There’s nothing out there. Churches, federal government resources, they’re all tapped dry, and so this will literally crush some of the residents that I work with.”

Comment on this story at [email protected].

Justin Laidlaw is a reporter for the INDY, covering Durham. A Bull City native, he joined the staff in 2023 and previously wrote By The Horns, a blog about city council.