Investigators in Iredell County are still sifting the ashes of an Oct. 30 house fire that burned a garage where a Chevy Volt's battery was being charged, but Duke Energy and Progress Energy say it appears neither the plug-in car nor its plugged-in charger was to blame.

The fire sparked concern for both Charlotte-based Duke and Raleigh-based Progress, which have installed free home charging stations in pilot programs for customers who drive Volts and other electric cars.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation last week to determine the risk of fire after a Chevy Volt battery is damaged in a crash (see Road Worrier column with reader comments). Bloggers across the country have speculated that faulty plug-in technology started the Oct. 30 house fire.

Damage was estimated at $800,000 for the $1.5 million house near Mooresville, where the Volt and a Nissan SUV were destroyed. The homeowner was one of 65  customers enrolled in Duke's home-charger program.

Garland Cloer, Iredell County's chief deputy fire marshal, said it appears the fire did not start in the electric car. ... [MORE]

Federal regulators in Washington said today they would reconsider the utility merger application filed by Progress Energy and Duke Energy.

The two North Carolina power companies, which want to combine into the nation's largest electric utility, had asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reconsider its Sept. 30 order. That order said the companies must address concerns that their merger could lead them to manipulate electricity prices in North Carolina.

Charlotte-based Duke and Raleigh-based Progress have since suggested such measures, but they also asked the FERC to reconsider their original merger application.

As a result, the FERC is now reviewing two merger applications: the original and the modified version.
 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said today it will conduct a special investigation at Progress Energy's Brunswick nuclear plant near Wilmington after a highly unusual mishap caused boiling water to flow out of a reactor chamber that was not properly sealed.

The federal inspectors will spend much of next week at the twin reactor Brunswick plant to understand what went wrong in the incident regarded as so unusual it may be unprecedented in U.S. nuclear history.

The incident, at Brunswick's Unit 2 reactor, posed no risk to the safety of employees or the public, and the moderately radioactive water that spilled out collected in a drain for normal processing. Raleigh-based Progress is also investigating the mishap, and Brunswick's Unit 1 has been generating electricity without interruption.

The NRC will issue a report within 45 days of the special inspection, which could include fines and other enforcement actions. A special inspection involves NRC specialists pulled from headquarters, regional offices or other nuclear plants to work with NRC's on-site inspectors at the plant to determine how the malfunction happened.

Brunswick's Unit 2 reactor has been shut off since the overflow was discovered early morning Wednesday. At one point, moderately radioactive water, coming directly from the reactor core, was pouring out of the reactor vessel at 10.1 gallons per minute, which is about 100 times more volume than would flow out under normal circumstances.

Duke Energy and Progress Energy have fine-tuned their staff-reduction estimates in their pending merger as the two North Carolina companies continue working on their merger integration plan.

The two electric utilities told the N.C. Utilities Commission today they expect to eliminate 1,860 positions over three years. That's down from an earlier estimate that placed the maximum potential staff reduction size at 2,000.

The N.C. Utilities Commission, which is reviewing the proposed merger, requested the updated data. Merger critics argue that the enormity of the staff cuts during one of the most severe economic downturns in decades means the merger is not a public benefit for the state.

Charlotte-based Duke and Raleigh-based Progress also disclosed that they expect 347 workers would be laid off or would leave on their own over the next three years, but the layoff total will depend on how many workers leave on their own. Those laid off will be redundant workers who did not take an early buyout offer or did not leave for another job.

The Cities of New Bern and Rocky Mount this afternoon urged federal regulators to force Progress Energy and Duke Energy to sell off power plants as a condition of approving their merger, the most sweeping proposal to date to curtail monopoly concerns.

The filing before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency reviewing the Duke-Progress merger, argues that the two utilities would manipulate electricity prices unless drastic measures are taken to reduce the monopoly powers of the combined company.

The federal commission's response will determine if the merger is approved in a matter of weeks, or if the $26 billion deal is delayed, which could take a year if the companies are forced to submit a new application.

Progress Energy rates will be increasing slightly next month as the Raleigh-based power company deals with rising expenses for fuel and energy-efficiency programs.

Residential rates will go up 3.7 percent Dec. 1, from about $102 to $106 a month for a typical household that uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month.

The N.C. Utilities Commission approved the increase last week. Power companies adjust their rates for fuel costs and other factors once a year.

The biggest cause for the increase is the rising cost of coal and other fuels. Another contributor is energy-efficiency programs, which include financial incentives for customers, administration costs and marketing costs.

Do you have a spare refrigerator or freezer that's taking up valuable space? Progress Energy is offering a rebate incentive program to help you get rid of the old appliance that's running up your power bill.

The Progress Energy Appliance Recycling Program will pay you $50 for an old refrigerator or freezer. Any Progress Energy customer with a valid account number can participate in the program, and there is a limit of two appliances recycled per account per year.

Another major solar farm is in the pipeline for North Carolina, this time a 3 megawatt project in Lilesville, about 60 miles east of Charlotte.

The project was filed this week with the N.C. Utilities Commission by Raleigh-based BGE Carolina Solar. BGE is a subsidiary of Blue Green Energy, based in Charlotte.

The solar farm is planned to be generating electricity no later than July 31 next year. It would generate enough power for the equivalent of about 300 homes.

Not long ago 3 megawatts would have been unprecedented in size in North Carolina, but in recent months several projects have been proposed at 4.5 megawatts and 5 megawatts.

Solar projects are increasing in size as the cost of manufacturing solar panels is falling.

North Carolina regulators have turned down a request by environmental advocacy groups to indefinitely suspend their review of the pending merger between Duke Energy and Progress Energy.

The decision by the N.C. Utilities Commission this week means that Duke and Progress could potentially get their $26 billion merger completed by this year or early next year. Just this week, the two utilities offered a voluntary bouyout program to several thousand eligible employees as part of the merger integration goal to eliminate 2,000 positions.

The merger, which would create the nation's biggest electric company, is simultaneously being reviewed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington.

Environmental groups had argued that if the federal commission imposes conditions on the merger, that would throw into disarray the North Carolina proceedings, which are contingent on reviewing the merger as proposed, not as it might be altered by federal regulators.
 

Progress Energy CEO Bill Johnson told Bloomberg News this morning that Progress and Duke Energy will be "well-positioned" after their merger to make additional acquisitions.

Both Johnson and Duke CEO Jim Rogers are attending an Edison Electric Institute meeting in Orlando.

Rogers told Bloomberg that he expects further consolidation among utilities due to the high cost of building and replacing power plants.

Rogers said the $26 billion merger would be completed by the end of the year or early next year.