Duke Energy Robbing Us Blind

Last month everyone I know including us had a Duke Energy bill over 200$ which has never happened in the 3 years we've lived in our house in Bessemer City NC. I find it suspicious that we somehow used over 400 more kilowatts than last year considering the weather is comparable. Not to mention this month we have another bill over 200$ even though during the 2 weeks of warm weather I essentially shut our HVAC system down.
Who else has suspiciously higher rates that they don't really understand or agree with and wtf are we gonna do about this company that essentially runs the state?