CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Piedmont
Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) today filed to again reduce 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) follow on the
heels of a similar request last month for lower customer billing
rates in the two states. Those requests were approved and
placed into effect on March 1.
Today's filings seek to further reduce customer billing rates
in each state and reflect continuing declines in the wholesale cost
of natural gas. The proposed reduction in billing rates for
North Carolina customers also
reflects a decrease associated with the Company's margin decoupling
mechanism in that state.
The proposed reductions, if approved by the respective state
regulatory bodies, would each go into effect on April 1, 2010. The proposed reductions
would result in reduced residential billing rates ranging from
approximately 2 percent (South
Carolina) to 4 percent (North
Carolina) from their current levels and between 8 percent
(South Carolina) and 12 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.
SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas