Duke Energy’s earnings were up for 2013, with profits of $2.7 billion producing earnings of $3.76 a share, compared with $1.8 billion and $3.07 per share the year before, the company announced Tuesday.

The company saw revenue growth from its regulated businesses, especially from territories added in North and South Carolina and Florida as a result of its merger with Progress Energy. Duke now controls utilities with more than 7 million customers in North and South Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.

Fourth-quarter earnings were $688 million, or 97 cents per share, compared to $435 million, or 62 cents per share, from the year before.

Notable, however, was a substantial decrease in revenue from its Commercial Power unit, which includes 6,800 MW of merchant generation and a retail sales subsidiary. It produced income of $15 million in 2013, compared to $93 million the year before.

Those results underscored the company’s announcement the day before the earnings were released that it was withdrawing from the merchant generation business in the Midwest. It warned that it expects to sell the 13 plants at below book value, resulting in a likely pretax charge of $1 billion to $2 billion in the first quarter of this year.

Its regulated utilities showed a fourth-quarter income of $607 million, compared to $498 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, driven by lower operating and maintenance costs, savings from the Progress merger and customer rate increases.

“We were forecasting a stronger third and fourth quarter as a result of some of the regulatory approvals, and we were able to close strongly,” Good said.

Tx Investments Drive PSEG Earnings

A renewed concentration on its regulated businesses, including transmission system operations, helped Public Service Enterprise Group produce operating earnings of $1.3 billion, or $2.58 per share, for 2013, compared to $1.23 billion, or $2.44 per share, for 2012 – an increase of nearly 6%.

Its fourth-quarter operating earnings were $248 million, or 49 cents per share, compared to $207 million, or 41 cents per share.

The company’s 2012 results had been hurt by the more than $250 million it spent on repairs after Hurricane Sandy. The 2013 results also reflected a significant increase in revenue as a result of transmission investments.

After investing $1.7 billion to upgrade its network in 2013, transmission now represents about 36% of PSEG’s rate base, up from 28% at the end of 2012.

CEO Ralph Izzo noted that the company has received authorization from PJM to begin construction on a $1.2 billion project to build a double-circuit line in the Bergen-Linden Corridor in northern New Jersey. (See Planners Choose $1.2B PSEG Short Circuit Fix.)

The company’s 2014 results should benefit from FERC’s approval of a $171 million increase in its annual transmission revenue, effective Jan. 1.

Like many utilities this year, PSEG is warning that operating earnings from its power generation operations will likely decline. PSEG’s wholesale power business reported earnings of $710 million in 2013, but the company predicts that figure to drop to between $550 million and $610 million for 2014.