SCRUTINY

North Carolina Probes Duke Merger

After CEO Bill Johnson resigned last week.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said he’ll be taking a closer look at the $17.8 billion merger between utility giants Duke Energy and Progress Energy. The exit of Bill Johnson, formerly CEO of Progress, from the top job at the newly formed company only hours after he stepped into his office has ignited a furor among former Progress board members who say they’d never have approved the deal under these conditions. “This significant management change within hours after the merger has put the company on credit watch,” Cooper wrote in an email, “so we need to get to the bottom of this to make sure we protect consumers.”