PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- PECO announced today it will not change its natural gas supply charge for the third quarter of 2007. Pennsylvania natural gas utilities are regulated and can only adjust its supply charge on a quarterly basis to reflect whole market costs. The gas supply charge remains at $1.06 cents per 100 cubic feet (ccf). It makes up about 70 percent of the typical bill. So, the average monthly residential bill based on 100 ccf of usage will hold at approximately $141. Along with PECO's delivery and customer service charges, the average monthly residential bill holds at $141 based on 100 ccf of usage. These PECO charges have not changed since 1988. PECO serves 480,000 suburban gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. Natural gas rates are made up of two parts. The first is the delivery and service charges that reflect PECO's natural gas operating and maintenance costs, mainly the cost of moving gas on its distribution system to individual users. The second part is the purchased gas cost, which is the part of the bill that could change each quarter based on natural gas market prices. This section of the bill reflects only the pass through cost PECO pays to secure natural gas on behalf of customers. There is no markup. PECO's gas distribution system consists of 29 gas gate stations, which connect with the regional interstate pipelines that bring gas supplies to the area, and 6,600 miles of underground distribution mains and 5,450 miles of underground service lines (primarily cast iron, steel and plastic). Throughout the year, PECO will deliver about 85 billion cubic feet of gas to local residential, commercial and industrial customers. PECO said it is spending $65 million this year in capital investment to improve its gas distribution system. These improvements include 25 capacity expansion projects, such as replacing smaller underground gas mains with larger diameter pipe to allow for increased load and increasing distribution pressure. The company will also complete 86 projects to replace older cast iron and bare steel distribution lines with today's more common plastic pipe, which is more durable and easier to maintain. Based in Philadelphia, PECO is an electric and natural gas utility serving 1.6 million electric and 480,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 2006, the company delivered 38.2 million megawatt-hours (Mwh) of electricity and 76.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas to residential, business and institutional customers. Founded in 1881, PECO is one of the Greater Philadelphia Region's most active corporate citizens, providing leadership, volunteer and financial support to numerous arts and culture, education, environmental, economic development and community programs and organizations. Contact: Ben Armstrong PECO 2301 Market Street, S14-1 Philadelphia, PA 19103 215-841-4137 or 215-841-5555 DATASOURCE: PECO CONTACT: Ben Armstrong of PECO, +1-215-841-4137 or +1-215-841-5555 Web site: http://www.peco.com/

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