Following its end of third quarter 2002 board meeting, Piedmont Natural Gas Co. said it has narrowed the company’s earnings loss from the similar period a year ago. The Charlotte, NC-based natural gas distributor posted a net income loss of $9 million ($0.27 per share) for the quarter ended July 31, compared with a net income loss of $16.8 million ($0.52 per share) for the year-ago period.

The company blamed part of the loss on its business being seasonal. Piedmont said it usually reports losses for its third quarter. As for the upturn over the prior period, the company cited decreased operating expenses and increased contributions from non-utility activities as the primary reasons for the improved results. In addition, the company was successful in further reducing its costs during the three-month period as evidenced by operations and maintenance expenses that decreased 6% to $31.9 million from $33.8 million for the prior-year period.

For Piedmont’s twelve-month period, net income was $66.2 million ($2.02 per share) compared with $66.1 million ($2.05 per share) for the prior period. During the twelve months, O&M expenses decreased 3% to $130.4 million from $134.3 million for the prior twelve months.

The company said it increased its system throughput for the current quarter by 12% to 20.9 million Dth from 18.6 million Dth in the prior-year three-month period, reflecting greater industrial and power generation deliveries. However, for the current twelve-month period, throughput declined 7% to 126.5 million Dth from 135.7 million Dth, reflecting the 17% warmer weather compared with the prior period.

Although customer growth is down from traditional levels due to the weakened economy, Piedmont said its customer addition growth rate of 3.8% is still well above the national average. The company also reaffirmed its previous guidance for FY 2002 earnings of $1.90 to $2.00 per share, with emphasis toward the lower end of the range. The Company intends to issue earnings guidance for the 2003 fiscal year commencing Nov. 1 at the end of October, following the expected resolution of pending general rate increase requests in North Carolina and South Carolina.

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