Piedmont Natural Gas Files to Reduce Customer Rates in North Carolina and South Carolina
February 17 2010 - 11:59AM
PR Newswire (US)
Requests for rate reductions reflect declines in the wholesale cost
of gas CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Piedmont
Natural Gas (NYSE:PNY) filed on Monday for a reduction in its
customer billing rates for customers in North Carolina and South
Carolina. The filings with the North Carolina Utilities Commission
(NCUC) and South Carolina's Public Service Commission (PSC) seek to
lower the wholesale cost of gas benchmark contained within the
customer billing rates in each state and reflect declines in the
wholesale cost of natural gas. The proposed reductions, if approved
by the respective state regulatory bodies, would each go into
effect on March 1, 2010. The proposed reductions would have the
effect of reducing residential billing rates in each state by
approximately 5 percent from their current levels and between 5
percent (South Carolina) and 10 percent (North Carolina) from
billing rates of a year ago. The benchmark reflects the wholesale
cost of natural gas supplies purchased by the Company on behalf of
its customers and can fluctuate up or down. The wholesale cost of
gas represents the single largest portion of a residential or
commercial customer's monthly natural gas bill, typically making up
between 65 percent and 70 percent of the total bill. As a regulated
natural gas distribution company, Piedmont Natural Gas "trues-up"
or passes through the wholesale cost of gas to its customers on a
dollar-for-dollar basis, without adding on any additional profit
margin. Forward Looking Statement This press release contains
forward-looking statements. These statements are based on
management's current expectations and information currently
available and are believed to be reasonable and are made in good
faith. However, the forward-looking statements are subject to
future events, risks, uncertainties and other factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in
the statements. Factors that may make the actual results differ
from anticipated results include, but are not limited to, weather
conditions, rate of customer growth, the cost and availability of
natural gas, competition from other energy providers, new
legislation and regulations and application of existing laws and
regulations, economic and capital market conditions, the cost and
availability of labor and materials and other uncertainties, all of
which are difficult to predict and some of which are beyond our
control. For these reasons, you should not rely on these
forward-looking statements when making investment decisions. The
words "expect," "believe," "project," "anticipate," "intend,"
"should," "could," "will," "assume," "can," "estimate," "forecast,"
"future," "indicate," "outlook," "plan," "predict," "seek,"
"target," "would," and variations of such words and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are made
and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any
forward-looking statement, either as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. More information about the risks and
uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements may be
found in Piedmont's latest Forms 10-K and 10-Q, which are available
on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov/. About Piedmont Natural
Gas Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily
engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than one million
residential, commercial and industrial utility customers in North
Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including 61,000 customers
served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our
subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy-related
businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing,
interstate natural gas storage and intrastate natural gas
transportation. DATASOURCE: Piedmont Natural Gas CONTACT: David L.
Trusty of Piedmont Natural Gas, +1-704-731-4391 (office),
+1-704-507-6393 (mobile), Web Site: http://www.piedmontng.com/
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