NCSU economist: A Duke-Progress deal makes sense

Walden also says a merger could mean good news for consumers in the possibility of lower rates.

Walden, responding to questions from WRAL.com about reports that the two utility firms might announce a merger on Monday, said utility firms face many challenges and combining forces might help them meet those tasks.

The deal was formally announced early Monday.

Our question-and-answer interview with Dr. Walden:

The energy market faces two big challenges.

One is providing power to a growing economy, and generating additional power is very expensive.

Second is generating energy in a more environmentally sensitive way.

These are big challenges with many uncertainties. Duke and Progress perhaps have decided they can face these challenges better combined rather than individually.

Yes, from the point of view of costs - power utilities have big economies of scale - it's cheaper to generate and sell power the bigger your market area.

Such mergers typically cite cost savings as a reason - How could Duke and Progress cut costs?

By having a larger customer base and spreading their "fixed costs" of power generation over more customers.

Probably, but not fatal. Raleigh is not known as a corporate headquarters town. Its advantages are in higher education, technology, state government, etc.

There's always an advantage, in terms of innovation and management,to many competing companies - each with perhaps different ideas - rather than fewer larger ones. So, yes, I think something is lost by being bigger.

Rates are regulated by the utilities commission. If the larger company can better take advantage of economies of scale, rates may be lower than they would have been with the smaller companies.