But, according to some industry watchers, he gets an 'A' for his forward-thinking visions.
Four years into an avowed effort to change the utilities-industry business model, Jim Rogers report card is filled with incompletes.Observers give the Duke Energy Corp. chief executive high marks on vision and theory. He also scores well on visibility as his reputation has grown considerably since arriving at Duke four years ago.
That reputation is largely deserved, says John Gartner, a senior analyst with Pike Research, which follows the new energy industry.
For the head of a big utility that makes its profits from traditional energy, he is perceived as being outside the industry norm and more in line with people with environmental concerns, Gartner says. I think he is making progress, but its going much slower than he or the company might like.
That judgment isnt universal, however.
They shouldnt be in the mode of just selling kilowatts I agreed that hes got the proper frame for the issue, says Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. But I dont have the sense that he is leading in that in a big way as much as maybe his rhetoric would indicate.
Rogers has been clear on what he views as the future model. The industry must decarbonize, decentralize and sell energy efficiency as well as energy.
And he thinks Duke can lead the way.
Read the rest of this Charlotte Business Journal article, by John Downey, here.
In other energy news: Duke Energy starts generating solar power in Shelby (Charlotte Business Journal)
Not everyone loves, or even likes, Jim Rogers. (Who knew Darth Vader and Jim Rogers were buds? Not I ... Apparently, the "Death Star" is powered by coal.)