Harry Sideris

President, Chief Executive Officer & Director, Duke Energy

Search every verified Harry Sideris interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Harry Sideris, president and CEO of Duke Energy, discussed the company's approach to rising electricity demand from AI data centers, manufacturing, and population growth in recent interviews. He described Duke Energy's "customer protection plus plan," which requires data center customers to cover their share of infrastructure costs through long-term contracts, minimum commitments, deposits, and cancellation fees. Sideris stated that data centers can provide financial benefits to other customers, citing an estimate of about $1 billion in savings over a 15-year contract for every gigawatt of data center load, and mentioned that Duke Energy is building 15 gigawatts of generation over the next five years, including gas, nuclear uprates, solar, and batteries. He also noted that the company is working with the Department of Energy's loan program to lower borrowing costs. Sideris also addressed grid resilience in the context of severe weather, referencing Hurricane Helene's impact on his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina, and across Duke Energy's six-state service area, where 3.5 million customers lost power. He said the company has spent $35 billion since 2020 on hardening infrastructure, such as replacing wood poles with concrete and steel, and described these investments as aimed at reducing outage frequency and duration. He attributed some public concern about data center costs to "misinformation and misunderstandings," arguing that the company's commitments protect customers and can lower costs over time.