Duke Energy · 8-K exhibit

Media Contact: Gillian Moore

Analyst Contact: Mike Switzer

Duke Energy completes

sale of its Tennessee Piedmont Natural Gas business to Spire

·

Close of transaction previously announced in July 2025

·

Proceeds to help fund industry’s largest regulated capital plan

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Duke Energy

(NYSE: DUK) today announced it has completed the sale of its Tennessee Piedmont Natural Gas business to Spire – one of the largest

publicly traded natural gas companies in the country – for $2.48 billion. The agreement was previously announced on July 29,

T1Approximately $800 million of the proceeds

will be used to pay down debt at Piedmont Natural Gas to maintain its capital structure. T2The remaining $1.5 billion proceeds, net of

tax, will help efficiently fund the industry’s largest regulated capital plan – T3$103 billion of investments over the next

five years – to support a growing system and T4serve increasing load while T5keeping customer costs as low as possible.

“Today marks a significant milestone

with the successful transition of our Tennessee natural gas business to Spire,” said Harry Sideris, Duke Energy president and chief

executive officer. “As we enter a period of record investment, this transaction helps efficiently fund our capital plan –

a plan built on safely and reliably meeting our communities’ growing energy needs while managing costs for our more than 10 million

customers.”

Sideris added, “I want to thank

our Tennessee natural gas teammates for their commitment to industry-leading customer service, safety and operational excellence, as

well as the Nashville community for trusting us to serve its growing energy needs for more than 40 years. Spire will carry forward best-in-class

service and continue delivering value for Tennessee employees, customers and communities.”

“We’re pleased to welcome

Piedmont customers and employees in Tennessee to Spire,” said Scott Doyle, president and chief executive officer of Spire. “This

acquisition allows us to expand our core utility business while continuing to do what we do best as a company – safely delivering

reliable natural gas to the communities we serve.”

The sale agreement for the Piedmont

Natural Gas Tennessee business included nearly 3,800 miles of distribution and transmission pipelines serving more than 200,000 customers.

The primary operations will remain in the Greater Nashville area, and the T6Piedmont Natural Gas employees who primarily support the business

have transitioned to Spire to maintain business continuity for its operations and customers.

JP Morgan Securities LLC and RBC Capital

Markets LLC served as Duke Energy's financial advisors. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as Duke Energy's transactional

legal advisor. In addition, Duke Energy received legal support on certain matters from Holland & Knight. McGuireWoods acted

as joint regulatory counsel for both Duke Energy and Spire.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK),

a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. The company’s

electric utilities serve 8.7 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively

own 55,700 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas utilities serve 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio

and Kentucky.

Duke Energy is executing

an energy modernization strategy, keeping customer value at the forefront as it invests in electric grid upgrades and efficient generation

resources to strengthen the system and serve growing energy needs.

More information is available at duke-energy.com.

Follow Duke Energy on X, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook for stories about the people and innovations powering its

communities.

Piedmont Natural

Gas

Piedmont Natural

Gas, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, distributes natural gas to more than 1 million residential, commercial, industrial and power generation

customers in North Carolina and South Carolina. More information: piedmontng.com. Follow Piedmont Natural Gas: Facebook.

Spire

Spire Inc. (NYSE: SR) believes

energy exists to help make people's lives better. It's a simple idea, but one that's at the heart of Spire's company. Every day

Spire serves close to 2 million homes and businesses, making it one of the largest publicly traded natural gas companies in the

country. Spire helps families and business owners fuel their daily lives through its gas utilities serving Alabama, Mississippi,

Missouri and Tennessee. Its natural gas-related businesses include Spire Marketing and Spire Midstream. Spire is committed to

transforming its business through growing organically, investing in infrastructure, and driving continuous improvement. Learn more

at SpireEnergy.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This document includes forward-looking

statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of

1934. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s beliefs and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified

by terms and phrases such as "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "continue," "should," "could," "may," "plan," "project," "predict," "will," "potential," "forecast," "target," "outlook," "guidance," and similar

expressions. Various factors may cause actual results to be materially different than the suggested outcomes within forward-looking statements;

accordingly, there is no assurance that such results will be realized. These risks and uncertainties are identified and discussed in

Duke Energy’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and subsequent quarterly reports filed with the U.S. Securities

and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. In light of these risks, uncertainties

and assumptions, the events described in the forward-looking statements might not occur or might occur to a different extent or at a

different time than Duke Energy has described. Duke Energy expressly disclaims an obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking

statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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