Utility promotes from within for state leader

Duke Energy named longtime utilities veteran Harry Sideris state president of the company's Florida unit.

Sideris was most recently senior vice president of environmental, health and safety for Duke Energy, according to a release. He succeeds Alex Glenn, who has been named senior vice president of state and federal regulatory legal support.

Sideris, 46, will be based in St. Petersburg when his post officially begins Jan. 1. He will be responsible for the financial performance of Florida and manage state and local regulatory and government relations and community affairs. He will also work with Glenn's team and the corporate and regulatory strategy team to advance rate and regulatory initiatives in Florida, company officials say.

Sideris joined Progress Energy (formerly Carolina Power & Light) in 1996. He served in numerous operations, maintenance, technical and leadership roles across Progress Energy's generation fleet in the Carolinas and Florida — at both the plant and corporate levels. In July 2012, following the Duke Energy-Progress Energy merger, he became vice president of power generation for Duke Energy's operations in the western portion of North Carolina and South Carolina.

He assumed his current role in August 2014.

“Harry's decades of diverse industry experience have prepared him well for this important role,” said Doug Esamann, executive vice president, energy solutions, and president, Midwest and Florida regions, in the release.

Duke Energy Florida provides about 9,100 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 1.7 million customers in a 13,000-square-mile service area.