From

Staff Reports

HANGING ROCK - Duke has a new king. Well, a new manager at least.

Duke Energy North America has announced the appointment of a new plant manager at its Hanging Rock Energy facility located near Ironton.

Steve Townsend, formerly based with DENA's South Bay facility in California, assumed leadership responsibilities of the plant in late March.

"Steve is a great addition to the Hanging Rock staff," said Gianna Manes, DENA's vice president of energy generation, Midwest region. "He has outstanding experience and comes to Hanging Rock ready to take on this important new role, and to serve as our leader in the local community."

Prior to his South Bay responsibilities, Townsend was the plant manager for DENA's Sandersville Energy Facility in Georgia. He joined DENA in 2001, after working 21 years with Progress Energy in North Carolina and South Carolina.

"As Duke Energy's largest merchant plant outside of California, Hanging Rock is an important part of our portfolio and this is a terrific opportunity for me," Townsend said.

"The team here has put together an outstanding safety record (859 days without an OSHA recordable injury) in our short history, and plays an important role in the community," Townsend said.

"I look forward to becoming part of the Duke Energy family here and making many new friends and acquaintances," he said.

The Hanging Rock Energy Facility is located at 1395 County Road 1-A west of Ironton.

It is a 1,240 megawatt, combined-cycle electric generating facility, and came on line in the summer of 2003. It currently has a staffing level of 27 employees.

Duke Energy North America (DENA) is Duke Energy’s Houston-based North American merchant energy business. DENA’s generation portfolio currently includes over 10,000 megawatts in operation. More information on DENA can be found at:

www.duke-energy.com/businesses/companies/dena.asp

Duke Energy is a diversified energy company with a portfolio of natural gas and electric businesses, both regulated and unregulated, and an affiliated real estate company. Duke Energy supplies, delivers and processes energy for customers in the Americas.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK.

More information about the company is available on the Internet at: http://www.duke-energy.com.