Regulators consider next steps in Duke Energy probe

photo JEN WILSON

The N.C. Utilities Commission is weighing its next steps concerning Duke Energy Corp.'s ouster of Bill Johnson as chief executive following the company's merger with Progress Energy Inc.

When N.C. Utilities Commission Chairman Ed Finley closed Friday with what he called the ?initial phase? of the regulatory investigation into the ousting of Duke Energy Corporation CEO Bill Johnson, he indicated there will be more to come.

?We will proceed with additional phases,? he said at the end of two days of hearings in Raleigh.

He said if the commission contemplates issuing an order in the case, ?we will have a more traditional evidentiary hearing? that will afford all parties the ability to cross-examine witnesses and present their own evidence.

That comment was aimed at Duke (NYSE: DUK), which Thursday held a press conference to criticize the commission?s decision that Duke could not cross-examine witnesses in the proceeding last week.

The commission held three days of investigative hearings into fallout from the $32 billion merger of Duke and Progress Energy, Inc. The two companies had signed a merger agreement 18 months ago that said Progress Chief Executive Johnson would be CEO of the combined company, which now provides much of the Triad's power. But on July 2, shortly after the merger closed, a divided Duke board of directors demanded Johnson's resignation and reappointed Duke CEO Jim Rogers in his place.

Rogers testified to the commission on July 10. Last week, the commission heard from Johnson and four members of the new Duke board. Two of them were among the five former Progress directors who voted against the CEO switch. Two were among the 10 holdover members of the pre-merger Duke board who voted to ask for Johnson's resignation and replace him with Rogers.

Before Johnson testified Thursday, Duke had asked that it be given the right to cross-examine witnesses in the hearings. Finley curtly rejected the proposal. At the end of the day, Duke responded with its press conference.

John Downey covers the energy industry and public companies for the Charlotte Business Journal.

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