Progress Energy, headquartered in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...

, is a subsidiary of

Duke Energy Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 watt, megawatts of base-load and peak generati ...

and prior to its merger with Duke Energy was a Fortune 500 energy company with more than 21,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $9 billion in annual revenues. Progress Energy includes two major electric utilities that serve approximately 3.1 million customers in

the Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nort ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

. As an independent company, the last chairman and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of Progress Energy was William D. Johnson; his predecessor was

Robert McGehee Robert B. McGehee (March 19, 1943 – October 9, 2007) Robert B. McGehee was chairman and chief executive officer of Progress Energy. He became chief executive officer on March 1, 2004, and chairman on May 12, 2004. McGehee was president and ...

, who died on October 9, 2007 at the age of 64 of a stroke while on a business trip to London. Progress Energy is the majority owner and operator of the Brunswick, Crystal River 3,

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960s ...

, and Shearon Harris

nuclear power plants A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces ele ...

. On October 16, 1999, third quarter earnings of Florida Progress Corp. fell 20.5 percent as damage from Hurricane Floyd. On August 24, 1999, Carolina Power & Light Co. said that it would acquire Florida Progress Corp. for $5.3 billion, creating the nation's ninth-largest electric utility. The company's current slogan is, "People, performance, excellence."

History

In 2000, Carolina Power & Light bought

Florida Power Corporation Duke Energy Florida, formerly Florida Power, was the generation, transmission, and distribution sector of Florida Progress Corporation. The company distributed power over much of central and north Florida. Their service area covers approximately 1 ...

and changed its name to Progress Energy. Progress Energy represents a family of companies, including CP&L, Florida Power, Progress Telecom, NCNG and SRS, and an important new organization, Energy Ventures. The company built a new headquarters in downtown Raleigh in 2004. On January 10, 2011,

announced plans to take over Progress Energy in a $26 billion deal resulting in the country's largest electric utility with 7.1 million customers. Duke Energy plans to "maintain substantial operations in Raleigh." When the merger was completed on July 3, 2012, Duke Chairman James E. (Jim) Rogers became Chairman and CEO of the new combined company, while Progress CEO Bill Johnson resigned.

Environmental record

In 2008, the Corporate Responsibility Officer named Progress Energy to its list of 100 Best Corporate Citizens. Progress Energy was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006 and 2005. The company is investing $300,000 in a

UNC Chapel Hill UNC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to: Education * University of Northern California (disambiguation), which may refer to: ** University of Northern California (Santa Rosa), in Petaluma, California, United States ** University of N ...

study to map the offshore wind power potential of North Carolina. Progress Energy launched its SunSense-branded solar incentive programs in 2009. Progress Energy has installed

flue-gas desulfurization Flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) is a set of technologies used to remove sulfur dioxide () from exhaust flue gases of fossil-fuel power plants, and from the emissions of other sulfur oxide emitting processes such as waste incineration. Methods ...

technology, or scrubbers, to remove sulfur dioxide emissions from its nine largest coal-fired power plant units. Researchers at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

have identified Progress Energy as the 29th-largest corporate producer of

Air pollution in the United States Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials into the atmosphere, causing harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damaging ecosystems. Air pollution can cause health problems in ...

in 2002, when it released roughly 39 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air. Major pollutants included

nickel Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...

compounds,

chromium Chromium is a chemical element with the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in group 6. It is a steely-grey, lustrous, hard, and brittle transition metal. Chromium metal is valued for its high corrosion resistance and h ...

compounds, sulfuric acid, and

hydrochloric acid Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride. It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent smell. It is classified as a strong acid. It is a component of the gastric acid in the dig ...

. Progress has also been named a potentially responsible party at the Carolina Transformer Co.

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agen ...

toxic waste site, according to the

Center for Public Integrity The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to ...

.Center for Public Integrity

Naming rights

Progress Energy owns the naming rights to the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

's ''Progress Energy Welcome Center'',

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

's '' Progress Energy Park, home of Al Lang Field'', Progress Energy Center for the Arts-Mahaffey Theater, and the "

Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts is the main venue for the performing arts in Raleigh, North Carolina. The naming rights to the center currently are held by Duke Energy (formerly Progress Energy), which purchased them from the city in ...

" in downtown

Raleigh, NC Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...

References

External links

Progress Energy Inc website
{{Authority control Electric power companies of the United States Natural gas companies of the United States Nuclear power companies of the United States Energy in North Carolina Companies based in Raleigh, North Carolina Energy companies established in 2000 Non-renewable resource companies established in 2000 2000 establishments in North Carolina Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2012 mergers and acquisitions

History

Environmental record

Naming rights

See also

References

External links