Another reason to hate Duke (Duke-Progress merger hearings set to start):
The path to creating the nation's largest merger faces its toughest test this week as Duke Energy asks the N.C. Utilities Commission to bless its union with Raleigh-based Progress Energy.
"Bless its union"? It is so beautiful when two loving partners become one.
Key players, including consumer advocacy agencies in both Carolinas, support the $26 billion merger. Critics will balk at the deal for the job losses it will cause and its effects on green-energy development. ...
Antennae begin tingling.
Duke and Progress say their combination will create a financially stouter company better able to build new power plants, update infrastructure and abide by tougher environmental rules. The N.C. utilities commission will use a different yardstick: whether their 3.1 million N.C. customers come out ahead. ...
In other words, consumers are better off if the merger results in lower prices and not lower service quality.
Apart from fuel, more savings will come from streamlined operations - including erasing duplicate jobs. The companies said Friday they expect to trim about 2,000 jobs over three years from a combined workforce of more than 29,000. Most losses are expected to be in North Carolina. ...
Right on. Jobs are costs. Fewer jobs mean lower costs and potentially lower prices.
The Environmental Defense Fund and three other advocacy groups argue the commission could soften the impact of those lost jobs. Requiring the companies to invest more in energy efficiency and renewable energy would create new jobs, they say.
And here we go with the snark ... how about if we required the companies to retire all of their capital and "invest" in labor technology? Dig the coal with hand shovels, etc. That would create even more jobs.
The groups say Duke and Progress haven't fully assessed the costs and benefits of the merger. Increasing reliance on coal-powered plants and blending of coal from different regions, a cost-saving move, would increase emissions, they say.
More snark. Those external costs should be assessed by environmental policy makers, not the firms involved (er, I just released my opinion on corporate social responsibility).
The N.C. Sustainable Energy Association says the merger, as proposed, misses a key opportunity for Duke and Progress to make greater use of wind, solar and other green energy. Both now make most of their electricity with nuclear, coal and natural gas-fueled power plants. ...
Huh? Plow all of those savings from the merger into higher cost renewable energy, and don't raise prices please.
Williams, the Duke spokesman, said the merger won't dictate the power-generation mix of the new Duke. Regulators have to approve new power plants. Legislators could require more green energy.
"We haven't been given approval to build a power plant," he said. "You could build a whole lot of solar, too, if it were cost-competitive."
