Generating less debt.

• Position: EASTERN REGION

Thirty-two eastern North Carolina cities are dumping their interests in power plants operated by Duke Energy a move akin to getting out of a bad, decades-old marriage. Raleigh-based Carolina Power & Light, which became Progress Energy in 2000, cut a deal in which the cities took on $3.6 billion in debt to buy minority stakes in four nuclear and coal plants in 1982. Investors grabbed yields of 12% or more paid on the bonds, which enabled CP&L to finish its Shearon Harris nuclear plant after cost overruns topped $2 billion. But the deal slowed eastern North Carolina's growth and forced about 270,000 residents to pay as much as a third more for electricity as folks in other Progress cities. In July, Duke agreed to take over the cities' interests for $1.2 billion, trimming their remaining debt to about $400 million. It will take at least a year for state and federal regulators to consider the deal, but it would give Duke more electric power and improve prospects of eastern North Carolina, which needs lower rates to attract new industry and residents, says David Hodgkins, town manager of Farmville. Duke wouldn't explain why it...