(RALEIGH) --The lead director at Duke Energy says doubts about former Progress Energy C-E-O Bill Johnson were raised months before the merger between the two companies was finalized. Johnson was supposed to lead the newly merged company, but he was fired just a few days after the the deal was done.

Ann Maynard Gray of Duke Energy told members of the Utilities Commission on Friday that Duke lost confidence in Johnson, and they'd paid too much for Progress to keep him on board.

"Duke paid about 32 billion dollars for Progress. So for us to have a CEO in whom we do not have confidence because of certain leadership styles is just not the right choice."

Johnson testified on Thursday that the firing came as a shock to him, but Maynard says Johnson should have known intuitively that there were problems brewing.