Progress Energy could eliminate as much as half its downtown Raleigh workforce as part of the company's merger with Duke Energy.
The Raleigh-based electric utility today updated workers to expect its downtown staff to end up between 1,000 and 1,300 employees, down from about 2,000 today. The job cuts will come through voluntary buyouts, attrition, retirements and layoffs over several years, as well as from Raleigh employees relocating to Charlotte.
The corporate merger, announced in January, will create the country's biggest electric utility with 7.1 million customers in six states. The combined company will be headquartered in Charlotte.
Under the merger terms, Progress promised to keep a "substantial presence" in Raleigh. The company will keep a number of key positions here, including N.C. utility president, two senior executives over regulated utilities and customer operations and functions that could include transmission, nuclear engineering, fossil fuel engineering, human resources, communications and IT support.
As a result of the sizable workforce reduction in Raleigh, Progress will shrink its real estate needs from two downtown office towers to one building, leasing the other to Red Hat, the Raleigh software company.
"We know that our employees are hungry for information," Progress spokesman Mike Hughes said. "This has been a stressful time for many employees, because of the uncertainty about how many jobs will be affected. We’re trying to provide updates as decisions are made."
John Murawski has been a full-time newspaper reporter since 1991, with stints at Legal Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (both in Washington, DC), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Palm Beach Post (in South Florida) before arriving at the N&O in December 2004. At the N&O he covers energy (nuclear, coal, renewable, efficiency), hydralic fracturing (or "fracking"), public utilities (both electric and natural gas) and health care. His beat includes Progress Energy, PSNC Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PowerSecure International, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Biogen Idec and others. You can reach him at 919-829-8932 or
Comments
vote em out
Fri, 09/02/2011 - 01:10 — mcarolIn a few more months, they will eliminate every single job in downtown Raleigh. That's the whole reason for merging. They just take over the assets and run it from Charlotte. Commercial real estate in Charlotte is strong; Raleigh is really choking on this. We keep hearing nothing but good about the merger, because no one has the cajonies to say, foul ball boys, lack of competition, lack of local management, it's always bad business.
General Assembly fascists
Fri, 09/02/2011 - 00:17 — hoosierhysteriaGeneral Assembly and Thom Tillis, where are the 17,000 jobs you promised to create in the state as a result of your fiscal budget? No job creation from the North Carolina General Assembly. Vote out the entire General Assembly in 2012!
What will happen to CEO
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 19:27 — uncznflSo what will happen to the CEO of Progress and his $9 m salary??
He gets paid and he will be
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 20:50 — JoeTarheelHe gets paid and he will be ne new CEO of Duke/Progress.
What will happen to CEO
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 19:27 — uncznflSo what will happen to the CEO of Progress and his $9 m salary??
Sooooo glad for electric co-op
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 19:25 — uncznflI happy that tidewater power(the parent of CP&L, Progress Eng.) didn't want to run electric lines out in the country. Thank you Pres. Roosevelt for the elec. co-ops. We have been a member since it was formed. Power was back on before a lot of Progress customers.
Duke Power has HIGHER RATES and POOR SERVICE
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 19:15 — mike27513So when Progress is absorbed by Duke , Rates will go up since Progress customers currently pay less per Kw/hr than Duke customers.
Customer service and Outage recovery will also be worse under Duke.
And of course there will be an Empty Skyscraper in Raleigh.
Sounds like a great merger !
Scary, Anytime
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 17:55 — MissVNo matter when it occurs, unemployment is a scary time. I remember the ice cream social they had several years ago to allow some of us candidates to meet employees. Venita Peyton
Time for solar power
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 17:37 — FlowerpowerGo solar. Duke Power or Energy can't charge for that (yet).
Understand, most of the
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 17:23 — JoeTarheelUnderstand, most of the 'shareholders' are institutions and they actually want them to charge us more. they could care less about consumers. Utiltities have a monopoly albeit regulated. However as is evident by Jim Rogers actions in Indiana, they just 'buy' the state regulators off to approve all the rate increases.
Plus, you have an egomaniac in charlotte (i know what a surprise) in Jim Rogers who only cares about building a kingdom. In some ways you can't blame Bill Johnson since Jim 'bought' him by promising him the CEO title.
Jim Rogers is another typical insecure charlotte, "usa" egomaniac. plus he's a crook that just hasn't been caught yet. Just ask the state of Indiana who is investigating Duke and Jim for alleged corruption.
Progress Announcement
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 17:06 — pi_r_roundNo there won't be lower electricity bills. As I understand it, Duke has already asked for a 16% increase. When the shareholders voted for the merger, you just knew it was not in the customer's or employee's best interest. First RBC, now Progress Energy, downtown Raleigh is going to look like a deserted mining town before long. Can Coopers BBQ stay now?
So I'm sure this
Thu, 09/01/2011 - 15:56 — ProwlingWoofieSo I'm sure this streamlining will result in lower utility bills for all the Progress Energy customers, right ?