The N.C. Utilities Commission is eating crow after inadvertently posting a Greensboro moving company's confidential information online, a violation of the commission's own privacy policy.

The commission's gaffe happens at a time that the commission has issued fines up to $1,000 against more than 50 moving companies -- and is threatening to yank their operating licenses -- for failing to follow commission rules.

Commission Chairman Edward Finley Jr. this week apologized to Ray Moving and Storage for posting company owners' social security numbers, birth dates and fingerprints from an FBI criminal background check. The moving company filed a complaint with the state Attorney General, demanding that the commission reprimand or fire the staffer responsible for the breach.

"It was an inadvertent failure to comply with our policies and rules," Finley acknowledged by phone this afternoon. "We handle all sorts of volumes of paper up here and mistakes happen."

Progress Energy will soon pay its North Carolina customers up to $10,000 for installing rooftop solar panels on their homes.

The solar energy incentive, approved today by the N.C. Utilities Commission, will cut the cost of solar panels to as little as one-third, when combined with state and federal tax credits.

The Progress incentive will provide a significant financial discount to homeowners interested in using solar energy, said Brian Lips, a policy analyst at the N.C. Solar Center in Raleigh. 

State regulators this morning gave moving company owners until Feb. 28 to get a criminal background check or face a $500 fine and lose their state license.

The N.C. Utilities Commission, which regulates movers in this state, extended a deadline to accommodate moving company owners who said they needed more time to get their documents in order.

The commission back in 2008 said all moving company owners and principals will need to get a criminal background check for the past 10 years. The commission also said at the time that the owners need to certify they are U.S. citizens or have proper working papers. The rules apply to company owners and principals, not to employees.

As of this morning, about half the state's certified movers had not complied with the requirement. The commission held a hearing in Raleigh to consider the movers' reasons for missing their original April deadline to submit the required documents.

Triangle customers who heat their homes with natural gas are in for more good news.

PSNC Energy expects to cut its rates by 12 percent next month. The rate cut will translate to a savings of about $12 a month for a home with typical monthly natural gas usage.

About 40 percent of Triangle residents heat their homes with natural gas.

State regulators today resolved one of the more nettlesome conundrums of green energy: Do forests and tree farms count as a renewable energy resource?

The N.C. Utilities Commission said that they do, clearing the way for power companies to harvest entire trees for wood chips to be used as a fuel in power plants. Wood and other biomass are expected to supply much of the alternative fuel that in the coming decades will offset the state's heavy reliance on coal and nuclear power to generate electricity.

Duke Energy, the state's biggest power company, is already blending wood chips with coal to meet its green energy mandates under the state's 2007 energy law, which requires power companies to shift to alternative energy sources.

"This decision by the commission further reinforces that biomass, including woody biomass derived from whole trees, is a viable renewable resource for North Carolina," said Duke spokesman Jason Walls.

The state's 2007 energy law is a work in progress that requires resolving a number of thorny issues, such as whether chipped whole trees qualify as a renewable fuel source.

The state legislature three years ago required power companies to increase their reliance on alternative fuels, clean energy and energy conservation to meet customer demand. North Carolina became the first state in the Southeast to pass a renewable energy portfolio standard.

Under the law, power companies in the state buy electricity and renewable credit from small independent generators that use the sun, wood, animal waste and garbage as fuel.

The N.C. Utilities Commission, which enforces and monitors the state energy law, has already approved a renewable energy facility in Wake County that generates electricity from ethanol that's derived from organic waste.

The commission has also approved a renewable facility that has converted a pair of coal-burning power plants to burn a cleaner blend of coal mixed with wood waste and automobile tires. The portion of electricity that comes form rubber and organic material qualifies as biomass and can be used to toward the renewable energy mandate.

But the subject is so complicated that utilities commission has has to open more than a dozen case dockets to clear up misunderstandings and define disputed terms.

State regulators moved closer to letting AT&T end service for thousands of low-income customers if their phone company, LifeConnex Telecom, doesn't pay AT&T nearly $1.4 million in bills.

The N.C. Utilities Commission said LifeConnex, based in Wisconsin, has five days to pay AT&T. If LifeConnex doesn't meet the deadline, "AT&T is authorized to resume the process of suspending and/or terminating its service to LifeConnex."

LifeConnex is one of seven phone companies that AT&T is trying to collect money from. But two others — EveryCall Communications and Freedom Communications — have filed for bankruptcy. In July, LifeConnex had 8,800 customers in North Carolina.

The N.C. Utilities Commission has slapped a new rule on Progress Energy and Duke Energy where they would have to return money made on promotions that increase consumers' electricity use. Read more about it here.

Power companies, environmentalists and forestry interests will argue before state regulators on Wednesday over Duke Energy’s plan to burn wood with coal at two power plants, the Charlotte Observer's Bruce Henderson reports.

The issue is what kind of wood –- waste scraps or whole trees cut into chips -- may be burned to meet North Carolina’s 2007 renewable-energy law. Organic material called biomass, including wood, is expected to produce most of that green energy.

Two environmental groups have challenged Duke’s plan to burn wood with coal at plants in Rowan County and in South Carolina.

South Carolina regulators approved a small rate cut for Progress Energy today, an indication of what the power company can expect in this state soon.

The Raleigh-based electric utility requested rate cuts in both states to reflect the falling cost of coal and other fuels used in power plants to generate electricity.

In North Carolina, Progress is requesting a 4 percent reduction, or about $4 a month, for a typical residential customer.

The South Carolina rate cut is effective Thursday. In North Carolina, the rate change would go into effect Dec. 1.

If approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission, it would be the second consecutive rate cut for Progress, based on a fuel-cost adjustment, after five years of increases.

State law allows utilities to pass on fuel costs to customers as long as the companies negotiate the best rates from vendors.