The new power company created by the merger of Duke Energy and Progress Energy has plans for three new nuclear plants — two in the Carolinas and one in Florida.
But Duke executives have said the Carolinas’ plants — one near Gaffney and another near Raleigh — won’t get built unless North Carolina lets it recover financing costs from ratepayers up front as South Carolina permits.
Charlotte-based Duke, the Upstate’s dominant electricity provider, and Raleigh-based Progress on Monday jumped the last regulatory hurdle needed to merge and create the nation’s largest regulated utility with more than seven million retail customers in six states.
The two power companies already had permission to combine from federal and North Carolina regulators when the South Carolina Public Service Commission approved a Joint Dispatch Agreement on Monday, paving the way for completion of the merger.
Duke spokesman Tom Williams said a press release wouldn’t be issued until today after all contracts had been signed.
In announcing the merger plans in early 2011, Duke said one of the benefits was that the combined company’s bigger size and scale would put it in a better position to develop new nuclear plants.
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