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Conversations From the Corner Office
COMPANY HISTORY
Duke Energy Corporation
Duke Energy Corporation is one of the largest utility companies in the U.S. with nearly 4 million customers in five states. Based in Charlotte, N.C., Duke started out as the Southern Power Company founded in 1905 by James B. Duke and Walker Gill Wylie. Wylie convinced Duke to match a $50,000 investment in a plan to construct a series of hydroelectric power plants. A year earlier, Wylie had built a hydroelectric station at Rock Hill, S.C., to supply power to nearby textile mills. It's considered the first generating station on the Duke system.
In 1997, Duke Power merged with PanEnergy to form Duke Energy Corporation. The company then acquired Cinergy Corporation in April 2006. It is considered the fifth-largest utility in the country and is listed in the Fortune 500. Although Duke started out in hydroelectricity, today the company produces less than 1 percent of its energy from that power source. Most is from coal-fired power plants with about one-third coming from nuclear reactors.
Duke Energy has been ranked the country's third-largest burner of coal, and CEO James Rogers has become a high-profile advocate of mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions associated with coal burning. He favors a cap-and-trade scheme in which companies are allowed to buy and sell emissions credits below a government-mandated cap. Rogers also favors energy efficiency programs and increased generation from nuclear power to help reduce carbon emissions.
The company currently operates in six divisions: Franchised Electric, Natural Gas Transmission, Field Services, Duke Energy North America, International Energy, and Crescent Resources.
RELATED LINKS
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO
CORPORATE WEBSITE: Duke Energy
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