Duke Energy, an electric utility company, is requesting the right to triple its “basic facilities fees” for its customers in South Carolina. Consumer Reports is advocating for the request to be denied by South Carolina’s Public Service Commission (PSC) in hearings scheduled for March and April because the plan is designed to protect company profits, and not designed to help consumers. As part of its “What The Fee?!” campaign, the non-profit, advocacy division of Consumer Reports has created this Fact Sheet to encourage Duke Energy customers to speak out against the requested fee increase, which would charge customers at least $336 dollars a year just for the right to access electricity at their homes, and would constitute the highest mandatory monthly fee of any investor-owned utility in the nation.