Duke Energy top executive Rogers receives 2009 compensation of $6.5 million

Duke CEO receives 2009 compensation of $6.5M

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The top executive of one of the nation’s largest power companies received total compensation of $6.5 million in 2009, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures disclosed in a regulatory filing.

Almost all of the compensation, $6.1 million, for Jim Rogers, chairman, president and CEO of Duke Energy, came in the form of stock awards.

Rogers draws no salary or bonus as part of the five-year contract he received last year. The deal could pay him as much as $52.5 million in stock. His previous contract was written in a similar manner.

Rogers received compensation valued at $815,190 in 2008, but the company said a prorated portion of a three-year stock award he received in 2006 was worth $5.5 million.

Rogers had other compensation of $391,212 in 2009, most of which went toward personal use of corporate aircraft, according to the filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

As is the case with other power companies, Duke Energy, based in Charlotte, N.C., has been hurt during the recession.

Rogers told analysts in February that he expects demand for electricity to be flat this year after it fell 4 percent in 2009, including a 14 percent drop in industrial demand.

To offset falling demand, utilities have been slashing expenses. Duke said it cut operations and maintenance costs by $150 million last year.

Duke reported a profit of $1.1 billion for 2009, down from $1.36 billion in 2008. Revenue fell to $12.7 billion from $13.2 billion.

The company has 4 million customers in the Carolinas, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value the company’s board placed on an executive’s total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, making the AP total different in most cases than the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.