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Investor Relations

Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) 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 62,000 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.

PNY highlights

  • One of the fastest-growing natural gas distributors in the nation                                 
  • Focuses on regulated natural gas distribution business in our core southeast markets                                
  • Focuses on leveraging service area growth into complementary joint venture investment opportunities                                
  • Goal is to provide long-term total returns exceeding peer group                                
  • Through October 31, 2008, PNY's five-year average annual compound rate of return has been 14.9% compared with 5.2% for its peer group and 0.3% for the S & P 500 Index                                
  • Dividend paid every year since 1956                                 
  • Dividend increased every year since 1978                                 
  • Debt rated "A" by Standard & Poor's and "A3" by Moody's

PNY's joint ventures

  • SouthStar Energy Services L.L.C. -- equity participant in Georgia's largest retail natural gas marketer
  • Pine Needle LNG Company, L.L.C. -- equity participant in a liquefied natural gas facility that's among the nation's largest
  • Cardinal Pipeline Company,  L.L.C. -- equity participant in a 102-mile intrastate pipeline serving portions of North Carolina
  • Hardy Storage Company L.L.C. --  equity participant in an underground natural gas storage facility in Hardy County, West Virginia. Hardy adds a cost-effective and diverse underground storage asset to our supply portfolio

Corporate Office
Piedmont Natural Gas
4720 Piedmont Row Drive
Post Office Box 33068
Charlotte, NC 28233
(704)364-3120 

Stock Market: NYSE
Ticker Symbol: PNY

Safe Harbor Statement

Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

 Forward-Looking Statements

Certain matters discussed herein and documents we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) constitute forward-looking statements concerning, among others, plans, objectives, strategy proposed capital expenditures and future events or performance. Our statements reflect our current expectations and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, actual results may differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ include:
  • Regulatory issues, including those that affect allowed rates of return, terms and conditions of service, rate structures and financings. We are impacted by regulation of the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC), the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSCSC) and the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA). In addition, we purchase natural gas transportation and storage services from interstate and intrastate pipeline companies whose rates and services are regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the NCUC, respectively.
  • Residential, commercial and industrial growth in our service areas. The ability to grow our customer base and the pace of that growth are impacted by general business and economic conditions such as interest rates, inflation, fluctuations in the capital markets and the overall strength of the economy in our service areas and the country.
  • Deregulation, unanticipated impacts of restructuring and competition in the energy industry. We face competition from electric companies and energy marketing and trading companies. As a result of deregulation, we expect this highly competitive environment to continue. The potential loss of large-volume industrial customers due to alternate fuels or to bypass or the shift by such customers to special competitive contracts at lower per-unit margins.
  • Regulatory issues, customer growth, deregulation, economic and capital market conditions, the costs and availability of natural gas and weather conditions can impact our ability to meet internal performance goals.
  • The capital-intensive nature of our business. In order to maintain our historic growth, we must construct additions to our natural gas distribution system each year. The cost of this construction may be affected by the cost of obtaining governmental approvals, development project delays or changes in project costs. Weather, general economic conditions and the cost of funds to finance our capital projects can materially alter the cost of a project. Our cash flows are not adequate to finance the cost of this construction. As a result, we must fund a portion of our cash needs through borrowings and the issuance of common stock.
  • Changes in the availability and cost of natural gas. To meet firm customer requirements, we must acquire sufficient gas supplies and pipeline capacity to ensure delivery to our distribution system while also ensuring that our supply and capacity contracts will allow us to remain competitive. Natural gas is an unregulated commodity subject to market supply and demand and price volatility. We have a diversified portfolio of local peaking facilities, transportation and storage contracts with interstate pipelines and supply contracts with major producers and marketers to satisfy the supply and delivery requirements of our customers. Because these producers, marketers and pipelines are subject to operating and financial risks associated with exploring, drilling, producing, gathering, marketing and transporting natural gas, their risks also increase our exposure to supply and price fluctuations. We engage in hedging activity to reduce price volatility for our customers.
  • Changes in weather conditions. Weather conditions and other natural phenomena can have a large impact on our earnings. Severe weather conditions can impact our suppliers and the pipelines that deliver gas to our distribution system. Extended mild or severe weather, either during the winter period or the summer period, can have a significant impact on the demand for and the cost of natural gas.
  • Changes in environmental regulations and cost of compliance.
  • Earnings from our equity investments. We have investments in unregulated retail energy marketing services, interstate liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage operations, and intrastate and interstate pipeline operations. These companies have risks that are inherent to their industries; and, as an equity investor, we assume such risks.

All of these factors are difficult to predict and many are beyond our control. Accordingly, while we believe the assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements to be reasonable, there can be no assurance that these statements will approximate actual experience or that the expectations derived from them will be realized. When used in our documents or oral presentations, the words "anticipate," "believe," "seeks," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "objective," "projection," "budget," "forecast," "goal" or similar words or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could" or "may" are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations only as of the date they are made. We assume no duty to update these statements should expectations change or actual results differ from current expectations except as required by applicable laws and regulations.

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