CHARLOTTE, North
Carolina (AP) — Duke Energy and Progress Energy have completed their
$13.7 billion merger to form the largest U.S. electric company.
Bill
Johnson, who was tapped to lead the combined company as president and
chief executive, has decided to leave by "mutual agreement," the
companies said Tuesday.
Duke CEO Jim Rogers, who was expected to be executive chairman, has instead been named CEO.
Duke
won federal approval for the merger June 8. The North Carolina
Utilities Commission voted in favor of the deal last week. South
Carolina's Public Service Commission approved an agreement Monday.
The
combined company will serve about more than 7 million customers in
North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Florida and South Carolina.
Experts
said the new company will be able to borrow money more cheaply, and it
will use fewer coal-burning power plants in favor of ones that use
natural gas. It's also expected to keep power prices stable. Regulators
saw the deal as the best possible in an environment of energy industry
consolidation in the United States.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.