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Progress Energy may cut in Carolinas: Utility is paring 300 jobs in Florida
(News & Observer, The (Raleigh, NC) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 29--Progress Energy is considering possible layoffs in the Carolinas after announcing Thursday that it will eliminate about 300 positions in Florida this year.
The power company's latest staff cuts come in response to the economic slowdown that has battered the housing market in Florida, the utility's biggest service area. The company's customer growth in Florida is the slowest in at least a quarter-century, amid a backlog of homes that are unsold or in foreclosure.
As a result of the stalled growth, fewer employees are needed in jobs related to connecting new electricity customers. The Florida cuts will come from the company's Energy Delivery unit, affecting managers, technical workers and engineers. The company warned of the impending layoffs three weeks ago when announcing second-quarter earnings.
"If there's not work to be done and money to be made, then you don't need the employees," said Paul Franzen, a utility analyst for the Edward Jones firm in St. Louis. "This is a good thing for the shareholders and ultimately for the ratepayers."
Raleigh-based Progress provided few specifics about potential cuts in the Carolinas.
The company noted that the real-estate problems here are less severe, limiting the impact of any staff cuts. There is no time frame for reviewing staffing levels in the Carolinas.
However, North Carolina represents more than half the company's payroll, or about 5,880 workers, some of whom could have less work to do as the company's Florida operation shrinks. Progress employs about 4,400 in Florida and 760 in South Carolina.
More than half the utility's North Carolina employees, about 3,200 people, work in Wake County.
"This is an opportunity for us to take a forward look at the entire organization," spokesman Mike Hughes said. "We don't envision wholesale staff reductions, but the situation is fluid with regard to the economy."
Progress, one of the region's biggest employers, has reduced its overall work force to about 11,000 from a peak of 16,000 in 2000. That was the year Carolina Power & Light merged with Florida Progress and created Progress Energy.
Hughes said staffing levels fluctuate continually as the company adjusts to economic conditions and other factors. Even as it cuts positions related to new customer connections, Progress is adding workers in nuclear energy in anticipation of adding new reactors in Florida and in Wake County.
At least some of the staff cuts in recent years were the result of Progress selling off noncore subsidiaries and did not necessarily mean lost jobs for the employees affected. The last major work-force reduction, three years ago, eliminated 1,447 senior workers in a voluntary buyout. The company then hired about 1,000 new workers.
About half the positions to be eliminated in Florida are already vacant. Progress has eliminated 143 open positions and has identified 151 currently filled positions that will be eliminated before the end of the year. Most of the positions are related to connecting new customers.
Progress has 1.7 million customers in Florida and 1.4 million in the Carolinas.
john.murawski@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-8932
To see more of The News & Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsobserver.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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