Duke Energy Faces Largest Fine Ever for 127 Cybersecurity Violations between 2015-2018. As If Customers Didn’t Have Enough to Complain About...

By B.N. Frank

Duke Energy conducts business in 6 states. Activist Post has reported many times about their problematic AMI “Smart” Utility Meters that they installed with customer rate increases and federal stimulus money (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

Many customers are also receiving additional rate increases to pay for the replacement of the original problematic “Smart” Meters with new problematic “Smart” Meters. So will customers also be footing the bill for more of Duke Energy’s dirty dealings?

Posted February 19 by Energy Central:

On Jan. 25, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation submitted a Notice of Penalty against an unidentified electric utility for 127 cybersecurity violations between 2015 and 2018. The unnamed company agreed to pay a $10 million fine, the highest on record for a utility committing cybersecurity violations. Despite multiple media outlets identifying the utility as Duke Energy, Public Citizen believes that formal disclosure of the violator’s identity is key to holding the company accountable and ensuring that ratepayers do not absorb the costs of its misdeeds.

“Concealing the name of the recipient of the largest fine in history sends a confusing message to the public that large penalties do not come with full accountability,” said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen’s energy program and author of the filing. “Future violators may be able to similarly hide behind the veil of anonymity. Moreover, keeping the public in the dark about the cybersecurity track record of our electric utilities may create a false sense of security and reduce the likelihood of more public awareness and vigilance needed to protect cybersecurity.”

Duke Energy’s electric utility operations are in Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio and South Carolina.

Utility “Smart” Meters are problematic everywhere. There was a documentary produced about them in 2013 which was updated in 2017 which includes more reported problems – one of which includes cybersecurity issues.

If you don’t want utility “Smart” Meters from Duke Energy or anyone else, you are not alone: