According to new reporting from WFAE, DC insider Michael Whatley is once again refusing to denounce the Duke Energy rate hikes. 

WFAE: “In a statement, Whatley’s campaign…did not take position on Duke Energy’s proposal to raise electric rates.”

This is the third time Whatley has been directly asked about his stance on the rate hike and dodged the question. 

Whatley has up to $445,000 invested in Duke Energy and would stand to see “boost[ed] profits” from a rate hike. Additionally, Whatley spent more than a decade lobbying for utility companies including Duke Energy and “argu[ing] in favor of rate increases.” 

Whatley is personally profiting at the expense of North Carolina families, who are already “stretched thin” by skyrocketing energy bills. 

“How hard is it to say that you don’t think North Carolinians should have their electric bills spiked?” said Mallory Payne, senior communications advisor at NCDP. “If you’re Duke Energy lobbyist and investor Michael Whatley, the answer is apparently ‘impossible.’ North Carolina families deserve a senator who knows their job is to bring down costs, not a politician like Whatley who is beholden to special interests and fighting only to boost his own stock portfolio.”

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