CompanyGraph
Runs the largest nuclear fleet inside a regulated utility, supplying electricity to 8.2 million customers who have no legal option to switch providers.
- Depends onDownstream position: depends on 11 industries, supplies 3
- ScaleMarket cap is higher than 95% of all stocks globally
- FinancialsAltman Z-Score: distress zone
- Interpretations3 currently firing — 1 · 2
What this company is and how it runs — written from structure, not news.
Duke Energy runs eleven nuclear reactors across the Carolinas and Florida that supply 30% of the electricity delivered to 8.2 million customers who, by law, cannot buy power from anyone else — state franchise agreements give Duke the exclusive right to serve each territory. Because those reactors operate as baseload and their costs sit inside the rate base at commission-approved returns, Duke delivers electricity below the wholesale market prices that competing utilities must pay whenever federal rules force coal plants to retire. That cost advantage, though, depends on two separate regulators saying yes in sequence: the NRC must license each reactor to operate, and then state utility commissions in North Carolina, South Carolina, and the other four states must approve the associated capital costs before a single dollar of investment earns a return. If the NRC finds a common design flaw and orders simultaneous shutdowns across multiple plants, Duke would have to buy replacement power at the same wholesale prices it currently undercuts — and each state commission would then separately decide whether customers have to pay for it.
How does this company make money?
Duke charges customers for electricity and natural gas delivery at rates set through formal proceedings before state utility commissions. Those rates are based on the total cost of the generation, transmission, and distribution assets in the rate base, plus a commission-approved return on that investment. Rate cases reset every two to four years in each of the six state jurisdictions. Electric delivery and natural gas distribution are billed under separate tariff structures, so each service has its own approved pricing track.
What makes this company hard to replace?
State utility commission franchise agreements give Duke exclusive rights to serve defined geographic areas — customers inside those boundaries have no legal path to a different electricity provider. On the nuclear side, NRC operating licenses run 20 to 40 years, creating a long window during which no competing generator can enter the market. For natural gas customers, switching suppliers is not just legally restricted — it is physically impossible in most service areas because the gas arrives through Duke's own pipeline connections, and there is no alternative pipe to plug into.
What limits this company?
The six reactors at Oconee and Catawba stations are approaching their 60-year license limits, and running them longer requires safety upgrades that must clear two separate approvals — one from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and one from state utility commissions in North Carolina and South Carolina. Neither body is on the same clock as the other. A decade-long federal review can finish while a state rate case is still open, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in upgrade costs sitting in limbo with no guaranteed return.
What does this company depend on?
Duke cannot operate without NRC operating licenses for its eleven nuclear plants, which produce 30% of its total electric output. Its remaining fossil generation runs on coal supply contracts drawing primarily from the Powder River Basin. Natural gas moves through pipeline connections tied to the Williams Transco and Kinder Morgan systems. Rate approvals from utility commissions in six states determine what Duke is allowed to charge. And the company's natural gas distribution network — 105,000 miles of pipelines — relies on easement rights that must remain in place for that gas to reach customers.
Who depends on this company?
Aluminum smelters in the Carolinas need uninterrupted baseload power to run their operations — if the nuclear plants shut down, those facilities would likely move production elsewhere. Municipal water treatment plants across Duke's service territories depend on reliable electricity to run the pumps and filtration systems that keep tap water safe. Data centers in North Carolina's Research Triangle picked their locations specifically because the nuclear-backed grid is stable; if that reliability disappeared, those facilities would have reason to relocate.
How does this company scale?
Adding capacity through transmission upgrades and pipeline extensions across existing service territories is relatively straightforward — regulators approve the investment, it goes into the rate base, and Duke earns a return on it. Building new nuclear reactors does not scale the same way. NRC licensing alone takes more than a decade, and each new plant requires capital close to $30 billion, a sum that is very difficult to recover through regulated rate cases.
What external forces can significantly affect this company?
Federal tax credits for renewable energy lower wholesale power prices, which puts pressure on the economics of nuclear plants that have to compete in those markets. FERC transmission planning requirements force Duke to spend money modernizing the grid in PJM and MISO market territories, whether it chooses to or not. Federal climate rules targeting coal plant retirements are accelerating the need for replacement generation, which creates both opportunity and cost pressure for Duke.
Where is this company structurally vulnerable?
If the NRC found a common design flaw shared by multiple reactors — say, a problem affecting both Oconee and Catawba at the same time — it could order simultaneous shutdowns across those plants. Duke would then have to buy replacement power at full wholesale market prices. Each of the six state utility commissions — in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky — would then separately decide whether to let Duke pass those costs on to customers. The same fragmented regulatory system that normally shields the company would become the reason it might not recover its losses.
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Sign in1 interpretation currently present — each is a set of fired observations whose alignment reads as one structural pattern. Click an observation to see the numbers behind it.
Screen for these patternsHow is this stock behaving?
Multi-Year Up-Close-Week Share With Profitability And Book-Value Growth
Three observations describe the present configuration: a high share of the trailing three years' weekly closes were higher than the prior week, the company has reported positive net income in each of the last five annual periods, and the book-value-increase-consistency composite over the trailing 5 years is elevated.
An interpretation is present only while every observation it reads stays fired (score ≥ 70). It describes what the aligned readings show — never a verdict, never a prediction.
What the company actually pays, and whether its own cash supports it.
The reported statements, read against the company's own industry.
2 interpretations currently present — each is a set of fired observations whose alignment reads as one structural pattern. Click an observation to see the numbers behind it.
Screen for these patternsIs this company growing?
Multi-Year Revenue, Profit, And Income Growth
Three multi-year observations co-occur: revenue increased year-over-year in each of the last three fiscal years, gross profit (absolute level) increased year-over-year in each of the last four fiscal years, and net income was positive in each of the last five fiscal years. The configuration describes growth-and-profitability persistence across three different windows.
Where is this company structurally exposed?
Within or Near the Altman Distress Zone
Three solvency observations have converged at elevated readings: a multi-factor distress composite is high, debt is a large share of assets, and total debt is large relative to trailing operating cash flow. Together they describe structural pressure from three different angles.
An interpretation is present only while every observation it reads stays fired (score ≥ 70). It describes what the aligned readings show — never a verdict, never a prediction.
Shared structure with peers — never a ranking.
Structural observations derived from financial data, industry benchmarks, and supply chain position.
Financial Health
Supply Chain
Scale
Companies that share the same coordination system — how they create, deliver, or capture value.
Companies that share active interpretations — structural patterns currently present in both stocks.
Supply Chain
Electricity Grid Supply Chain
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Nuclear Energy Supply Chain
Follow uranium from ore through conversion, enrichment, fuel fabrication, reactor operation, spent-fuel storage, decommissioning, and final isolation. Geometry, irradiation history, decay heat, evidence, financing, and custody determine what each stage can safely do.