Duke Energy has expanded buyouts to more departments in the company

Duke Energy confirmed on Monday that it has expanded buyouts to more departments, including legal, human resources and power generation.

Depending on how many employees accept the voluntary severance, the company could also have layoffs, a Duke spokesman said on Monday.

Duke would not say how many employees are affected by the latest personnel move. Duke Energy has its headquarters in Charlotte and employs about 29,000.

“At this time, we expect the majority of the staff reductions will be achieved through the voluntary severance program,” said spokesman Neil Nissan. “However, as we make final determinations, some groups may need to pursue involuntary severances as well.”

In October, The Observer reported that Duke had offered buyouts to nuclear and IT employees. The company also declined to say how many were affected in that move.

“It’s what our customers expect of us – that we do what’s necessary to work as efficiently as possible and maintain the lowest cost possible,” Nissan said.

Duke has also slashed expenses in recent years, The Observer has reported.

In May 2017, Duke said it planned to cut $100 million in expenses to offset lower financial results from warm winter weather. In March 2016, Duke shed 900 employees as part of a cost-cutting initiative. The majority of those departures were voluntary, the company said at the time.

Duke announced in September it planned to close its North Carolina coal plants over the next 30 years.

This story was originally published November 26, 2018 at 2:22 PM.