The utility giant admitted creating potential harm because of a broken pipe that polluted the Dan River and agreed to pick up the tab for all recovery projects.
Customers were reported by WBTV to be up in arms when Duke announced that the costs would be passed on to customers in their next utility bills.
A statement released by Duke said: "Because coal ash was created over decades in the generation of electricity for our customers, we do believe that ash pond disposal costs are ultimately part of our cost structure”
The NC state utility commission is expected to make the decision over who should pick up the tab for clean-up costs in coming weeks.
