Mobile
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
News Duke and Progress Energy merger hearing happening now in Raleigh, N.C.
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn on Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 1:08 PM
- Rhiannon Fionn
- Duke Energy's CEO, Jim Rogers is in the house ... and looking thrilled to be here.
Charlotte's darling, Duke Energy, is taking some heat from North Carolina citizens today at a Utilities Commission hearing in Raleigh — and we're here tweeting the good stuff.
The hearing is about Duke's proposed merger with Progress Energy, which, if approved, will create the largest utility company in the country and a virtual monopoly in North Carolina. Additionally, at least 2,000 of the companies' employees will get canned, the company will become a political powerhouse (as if they're not already), etc. In other words: power, money; money power (a.k.a. just another day in the state's capital).
The merger's detractors, whom the companies attempted to prevent from testifying, are worried that the energy super-giant will raise rates (even more than it already is) and stay so focused on building coal and nuclear plants that solar and wind ventures will fall by the wayside. Others are pissed that there's only one public hearing on the merger — this one — and that it's happening in the middle of the day in Raleigh, making it inconvenient for most of the state's citizens to attend.
The hearing will probably last all week, but this afternoon we're expecting to hear from Duke Energy's CEO Jim Rogers.
Speaking of...
Latest in The CLog
More by Rhiannon Fionn
-
Knight and Day: Plot eclipsed by stars 1
Cruise and Diaz are main reasons to consider seeing mindless action flick.
-
Lunch Break (9/1/16): Organizers unveil "People, Not Polluters" platform in Charlotte as McCrory officials testify in Raleigh
The morning already passed us by. What the hell happened?
-
U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $4.5 Million to Boost Wastewater Capacity to Support Growth of Healthcare and Other Businesses in Greenville, North Carolina, Opportunity Zone
