Duke Energy labeled "Dirty Duke" by advocacy groups in television ads

The heat that Central Florida's biggest power provider is getting heat this week includes a commercial in Orlando that criticizes Duke Energy for using coal and resisting solar energy.

The commercial was done by the online-based, social-justice groups Presente.org and The Other 98%. The piece can be viewed at DirtyDuke.org and will appear four times on WFTV-Channel 9. Its message is a biting spoof of energy-industry advertisements.

The ad starts with a narrator saying: "At Duke Energy, we make power, dirty power, the kind of power that can destroy a river and give a little girl asthma attacks."

Duke spokeswoman Nicole LeBeau said the company supports cost-effective, green energy and energy efficiency, and has retired three dozen coal power plants since 2011. She said Duke does not want clean energy to "shift costs from the most affluent to those who can least afford it."

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-duke-energy-critical-commercial-20140502,0,7992090.story