With the bankruptcy of Enron, the industry is now looking for a new leader and role model. Some have started looking at Duke Energy to pick up the torch from Enron in the areas of electric competition advocacy and lobbying, as well as looking to the company for leadership on overall wholesale market development, design and innovation.
"We continue to believe that wholesale deregulation needs to happen in this country and think that it is a good thing for ratepayers and consumers," says Harvey Padewer, Duke Energy's Group President, Energy Services, who says his company has consistently lobbied and will continue to be an advocate for competitive markets.
Could Duke Energy be that leader?
In terms of revenues in 2000, Fortune's list of America's top companies ranked Duke Energy at No. 17, which was the next largest power and gas trading concern after Enron (at No. 7 before its bankruptcy) and excluding the oil majors whose earnings are still the largest in the energy space.
Duke Energy generated revenues of more than $49 billion in 2000, has $58 billion in assets, and is the largest producer of natural gas liquids (NGLs) in the United States. Duke Energy has long believed that its corporate structure-having regulated and unregulated operations under one umbrella-is one of the reasons for its success. It's a corporate structure that many in the industry have recently shown a preference for (see Public Utilities Fortnightly, December 2000 issue, Frontlines).