Dive Brief: Duke Energy announced a settlement with the North Carolina Attorney General, North Carolina Utilities Commission Public Staff and the Sierra Club on Monday that could resolve how the utility will pay to clean up its coal ash. The proposed settlement, filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) on Monday, details how the utility will allocate the costs of its coal ash clean up, and will reduce expenses by about $1.1 billion over the next 10 years, compared to the previous plan. It will also allow the utility to earn a return on equity off the cost of the cleanup, but at a lower rate than it had originally proposed.