CP&L Energy, the holding company for Southeast utilitiesCarolina Power & Light (CP&L) and Florida Power, announcedMonday that it has renamed itself Progress Energy Inc.

It took this action to “send a very strong signal” to thoseinside and outside of the company of the “importance of Florida inour plans,” said Keith Poston, a spokesman for Progress Energy.

Progress Energy, a diversified holding company, will represent afamily of companies, including CP&L, Florida Power, ProgressTelecom, North Carolina Natural Gas and Strategic ResourceSolutions, as well as a new organization, Energy Ventures. Thelatter was created to manage wholesale energy marketing andtrading, merchant generation, fuel properties, and barge and railsubsidiaries, the company said.

It noted the names of its two power utilities, CP&L andFlorida Power, would not be changed, although they will have theendorsement and new graphic look of Progress Energy. CP&LEnergy acquired Florida Power through its merger with FloridaProgress Corp., which was completed Nov. 30.

Progress Energy stock will begin trading on the New York StockExchange on Dec. 11 under the symbol PGN. The newly named companyhas more than $7 billion in annual operating revenues and serves2.8 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina andFlorida. It is ranked among the top 10 generators of electricity inthe nation, with more than 19,000 MW of capacity.

The company’s new logo is the Progress Energy Star. Cast in redand gold, the logo has two interlocking rings that representservice to and partnership with its customers and communities. Astar at the center of the logo, according to Progress Energy,symbolizes knowledge and foresight.

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