Fluor Enterprises has alleged in a federal court in the US state of Florida that Duke Energy wrongly tapped a US$67 million letter of credit (L/C) that was issued in the event of a power generation facility not being completed.

Electric power holding company Duke denies the allegations and says it will contest them in court.

Allegations

Engineering firm Flour alleges that Duke never provided a cost breakdown of delays associated with the project.

It further alleges that Duke drew down the US$67 million L/C after failing to provide Fluor with a detailed invoice regarding delays associated with the completion of the Crystal River electricity generation facility.

Duke's position

A Duke spokeswoman says the company collected the L/C, and it was within its contractual rights to do so.

Duke has said it intends to vigorously defend itself and looks forward to the court's enforcement of its contractual rights.

The L/C was issued when the two companies reached an agreement in October 2014 whereby Fluor agreed to engineer, procure and construct parts of the generation facility, in a US$566.6 million contract.

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