Dive Brief:

• Duke Energy Corp., the nation's largest power company, reported third-quarter earnings that were lower than analyst expectations, citing wet and cooler weather in North Carolina and South Carolina during the period.
• The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company earned $1 billion, compared with $594 million in the year-ago period. Duke became the largest power company in the U.S. after it bought Progress Energy in July of 2012 for $18 billion.
• Duke sold 66,539 gigawatt-hours of electricity in the quarter versus 67,627 gigawatt-hours in the third quarter of 2012. Residential sales slipped 6.6%.

 Dive Insight:

"The third quarter is the biggest quarter for a utility," Lynn Good, Duke's chief executive, told Reuters in an interview. "It was just unseasonably cool in the Carolinas, with a lot of rain." Utilities typically count on customers running up air conditioners and other power-hungry devices during the summer to bolster earnings.