Dive Brief:
- FERC issued an order last week denying all requests for a rehearing in the merger of Duke Energy and Progress Energy, making the decision final three years after an initial order.
- The $32 billion merger was initially approved in September 2011, subject to the commission's approval of market power mitigation measures. The companies filed a proposal that was initially rejected, then approved on modification.
- Several parties requested a rehearing of FERC's three orders on the merger. The Oct. 29 order dismisses all of them and signs off on a small motion to supplement a market power mitigation filing.
Dive Insight:
It's been more than a couple of years since Progress Energy and Duke Energy merged their operations, but the deal is now final as far as FERC is concerned. Parties could still take issue with the deal in the courts, but for now federal regulators have dismissed all requests for rehearing. The chances that the deal could ever fall apart in court are exceedingly slim, the News & Observer reports.
As part of the permanent market power mitigation, Duke and Progress had proposed to set aside 25 MW of transmission capacity from the Duke Energy Carolinas Balancing Authority Area to the Progress Energy Carolinas-East Balancing Authority Area. That capacity would be available for reservation only by unaffiliated third parties on a firm basis in the summer off-peak season/load period, called stub mitigation.
FERC's order directs Duke and Progress to increase stub mitigation by 104 MW, in turn raising the total amount of the transmission set aside to 129 MW, and to operate phase shifters so as to "create additional transmission import capability and remedy the market power screen failure."
