Dive Summary:
- A Durham, North Carolina advocacy group has asked attorney general Roy Cooper to investigate whether Duke Energy engaged in illegal talks with the North Carolina Utilities Commission.
- The group, dubbed N.C. WARN, claims that the utility made improper "back room deal-making" during talks to settle the probe into the Duke's merger with Progress Energy.
- Duke has called the allegations "factually and legally baseless."
From the article:
N.C. WARN, a clean-energy group that has complained of unwarranted secrecy surrounding the merger, says the contact between Rogers and Finley apparently violated a state law against private communication between commissioners and the parties to a case.
“Under no circumstances should the CEO of the regulated utility, which was then under investigation by both the commission and the attorney general, have negotiated directly with the chairman to make such a deal,” WARN said in a news release. ...