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Duke Energy Targets NC WARN For Solar Power Sales

Duke Energy is taking action against a Greensboro church's alternative energy project. The utility isn't happy with a non-profit group selling solar power to the small congregation.

The left-leaning advocacy group NC WARN is facing over $125,000 fines for its role in providing solar energy to Faith Community Church in Greensboro.

At issue is whether or not the group's arrangement to sell power to the church violates state utility law.

Duke wants the North Carolina Utilities Commission to classify the arrangement as a “third-party sale”, which is illegal in the state.

The utility wants NC WARN to pay $1,000 per day in fines dating back more than four months.

But NC WARN says it's offering a way to finance solar power without upfront costs, and is asking the commission to approve the sales.

The group maintains that Duke's insistence on high financial penalties is their way of silencing NC WARN's criticisms of the utility and its policies.

The utilities commission has given all parties until November 20th to respond to arguments made in filings last week.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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