INSTITUTE INDEX: Duke Energy merger settlements leave watchdogs barking mad

By Sue Sturgis / December 6, 2012

Date on which Duke Energy settled both the N.C. Utilities Commission's and attorney general's investigations into its controversial $32 billion merger with Progress Energy: 12/3/2012

Number of illegal or improper actions admitted to by Duke, which was accused of misleading regulators during the merger proceedings: 0

Under the settlements' terms, mandatory retirement date for Duke CEO Jim Rogers, who replaced former Progress CEO Bill Johnson in a boardroom coup hours after the companies completed the merger deal in July: 12/31/2013

Amount Duke will add to the $650 million in merger-related savings it previously guaranteed its North Carolina customers: $25 million

Amount the company will add to workforce development and low-income assistance programs: $5 million

Number of employees Charlotte-based Duke will keep for at least five years in Raleigh, where Progress had its corporate headquarters: 1,000

Amount Duke Energy must pay in legal fees to the attorney general's office, which continues its legal fight against Duke's 7.7 percent rate hike approved earlier this year: $250,000

By early next year, number of North Carolina rate cases Duke is expected to have underway: 2

Percentage rate hike Progress requested in October, which the N.C. Utilities Commission is expected to vote on in February: 14

Date on which the energy watchdog group NC WARN released a memo from ousted Duke CEO Johnson, who will take the helm of the Tennessee Valley Authority next year, that appears to confirm concerns the company hid information from regulators during the merger proceedings about costs of needed repairs at the crippled Crystal River nuclear plant in Florida: 11/27/2012

Amount NC WARN has reported Duke is planning to charge customers for those repairs: $2.5 billion

Percentage of that cost NC WARN says would be paid by the company's customers in the Carolinas: 72

Amount by which the total charge for anticipated nuclear repairs exceeds the savings the merger will provide customers: $1.825 billion

Date on which NC WARN filed an opposition to the merger settlement, which it has called a "sell-out of the public" and said it intends to fight in court: 12/3/2012

(Click on figure to go to source.)

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