By John Downey
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Expedited proceedings
The state filings on Wednesday were required in an expedited schedule laid out by the N.C. Utilities Commission. The commission appears to be hoping to rule on the merger before July 1, the target date Duke and Progress have set for closing the merger.
Others involved in the proceedings are to file objections or comments on the new conditions to the state commission by Monday.
Jim Warren, executive director of the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, says his group will make an additional filing opposing the merger. But he says N.C. WARN is concerned at the speed with which the state commission appears ready to act.
“They’re trying to rush everything through in a truncated schedule,” he says. “Our intention is to do everything we can to get the commission to look hard and carefully at these issues.”
He says N.C. WARN will contend that Duke and Progress’ agreement to spend $110 million on new transmission lines and equipment, and other expenses built in to satisfy FERC, make the deal a bad one for N.C. customers.
