Zachary Turner

This week, Duke Energy announced the largest capital spending plan of any regulated utility in the country to meet the power demands of data centers.

The utility leads the southeastern energy efficiency programs for homes and businesses, but its Carolina companies hover at or below the national average.

Research Director Maggie Schober contributed to the report and says southeastern utilities are missing opportunities to save customers significant amounts on monthly bills.

The report also finds Southeastern utilities are doing very little to improve energy efficiency among industrial customers, such as large data centers.

For NPR News, I'm Zachary Turner in Charlotte.