William D. Johnson, the ousted chief executive of Duke Energy, was named the new head of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the government-created provider of wholesale power in Tennessee and parts of six other southern states.
Mr. Johnson was a casualty of the merger between Progress Energy and Duke Energy, a deal that created the nation's largest public utility. Under the terms of the agreement, Mr. Johnson was to run the combined utility, but he was pushed out at the first board meeting in a coup that sent reverberations through the industry.
In hearings before the North Carolina Utilities Commission, the board of Duke Energy defended its actions. The directors painted Mr. Johnson as an autocratic leader who had failed to be transparent about problems with mounting repair bills at a nuclear power plant in Florida.
Mr. Johnson's defense was equally spirited. He testified that Duke Energy's board got cold feet over the merger. When it couldn't back out of the $32 billion deal, the company pushed him out.
On Sunday, Mr. Johnson declined to talk at length about what happened at Duke, preferring to focus on his new job and looking forward. “Life goes on,†he said. “You get up. You continue. If you're lucky, you have an opportunity like this to come to the T.V.A. and work with the great people here and carry on this mission.â€
The Tennessee Valley Authority, with revenue of $11.8 billion in 2011, was established in 1933 to control flood waters on the Tennessee River and spur economic development in what was at the time a deeply impoverished part of the country. Among its top challenges in the coming years is to manage the replacement of its aging coal fleet without running up against its mandated debt cap of $30 billion. It's debt now stands at $22 billion.
Mr. Johnson replaces Tom Kilgore, who is retiring after leading the organization since 2006. The two worked together at Progress Energy. Mr. Johnson's new salary wasn't disclosed, although Mr. Kilgore earned just under $4 million in total compensation in 2011.
