And while Duke
initially abhorred North Carolina’s current regulatory system, it helped to ensure
the survival of his power company into the twenty-first century. In July 2012, Duke
Energy finalized a merger with Progress Energy that, while retaining the Duke
name, created the nation’s biggest regulated utility with 7.2 million electric customers
in the Carolinas, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.21 The continued
success of Duke Energy shows that J. B. Duke’s company has not only survived,
but thrived under the supervision of the regulatory state.