Sorting out the Duke Energy CEO shuffle

Something about the reports coming out of Charlotte are making the Duke Energy merger feel more like a break-up than the start of a new relationship. The merger with Progress Energy was supposed to create one of the biggest utilities in the world, with some 7.1 million customers. Instead, the only thing it seems to be creating so far is a lot of bad press for the newly merged company.

For those who are still catching up, Progress Energy CEO Bill Johnson was supposed to take charge of the newly merged Duke Energy. Instead, shortly after the merger was finalized, reports came out that Jim Rogers would be the top man at Duke instead of Johnson, as was previously agreed upon.

In effect, Rogers was swapped out for Johnson with Johnson having "served" as CEO for less than a day. Duke called this a "mutual agreement," but that phrasing has sounded fishier as time has gone by and people have talked to the press.

Jim Rogers himself laid out Duke's side of the story, telling the North Carolina Utilities Commission, which is looking into the CEO shuffle that followed the merger, that the board simply lost confidence in Johnson as the merger process advanced.

Rogers' people were concerned about Johnson's management methods, Rogers said, adding that the Duke people were afraid Johnson and his people would try to impose Progress Energy's culture onto the merged company.

Rogers said Johnson's management style was "autocratic" and tended to crowd out other points of view. These concerns were held by the Duke people for quite a while, but apparently weren't bad enough to stop the merger in its tracks. It seems they decided that Johnson was the issue, even as they agreed to make him CEO of the combined company.

Duke Energy officials have said, somewhat defensively, that they had a contractual obligation to make Johnson the CEO, and they did — albeit for less than a day.

Meanwhile, the mainstream press is full of stories about Johnson's "$44 million payday," with "nice work if you can get it" being the go-to punchline.

What we're not hearing much of yet, though, is Johnson's side of the story. Right now it's looking like less of a merger of equals and more that Duke Energy simply swallowed Progress Energy whole. Keeping Johnson as CEO was supposed to ensure that Progress Energy's interests were well-represented in the early days of the new Duke Energy's operations, but now that won't be happening.

One thing's for sure: People will be talking, and soon. The latest development in this story is the departure of many Johnson loyalists from Duke. The vice president of regulated utilities, the executive vice president and chief administrative officer and the chief integration and innovation officer have each just handed in their resignations. We'll be keeping an eye on this story, so stay tuned.