NiSource subsidiary Columbia Gas of Virginia said Monday that while natural gas demand continues to increase in the state, the utility continues to be able to meet the needs of its customers.

Columbia said its new customer additions in 2004 grew at twice the national average for local natural gas distribution companies. The more than 9,600 new customer additions resulted in a new annual customer growth rate of 4.6%.

“Columbia is strategically positioned to serve several of Virginia’s fastest growing communities,” said Kathleen O’Leary, Columbia president. Columbia already has added approximately 1,800 new customers in the first two months of 2005. “If this rate of growth continues, we could add well over 10,000 new customers this year,” she added.

Columbia listed its growth markets as Manassas, Prince William County, Spotsylvania County, Stafford County, Chesterfield County and portions of Loudoun County, Fairfax County, Suffolk and Chesapeake.

Columbia Gas of Virginia serves more than 220,000 customers in portions of Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads, suburban Richmond, central Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, the Lynchburg region and parts of western Virginia.

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