(RALEIGH) -- A watchdog group's request to make public the 17 secret deals Duke Energy made with large electricity users, in exchange for their support of a merger with Progress Energy, was approved last week, in part, by the North Carolina Utilities Commission.

"NC WARN decided we needed that information out there as part of the public debate on whether the merger really benefited the rate payers of North Carolina and that's why we took the efforts to get as much as possible to be disclosed," said NC WARN attorney John Runkle,

The agreements show that Duke made promises to large industrial customers to keep using the Summer Coincident Peak rate method for them. Runkle said this is an unfair method for determining rates which places the largest burden on residential and small business customers.