Exhibit
99
| Contacts: | |
| Elizabeth Castro (Media) | |
| (312) 240-4567 | |
| 130 E. Randolph Dr. ◙ Chicago, IL 60601 | Douglas Ruschau (Investor Relations) |
| (312) 240-3818 |
For
Immediate Release
March
6, 2006
Illinois
Commerce Commission Approves Settlement and Refunds in
Peoples
Gas and North Shore Gas Cases
CHICAGO
-- Peoples Energy said today that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC)
approved an amended settlement agreement related to its utilities gas charges
for fiscal years 2000 to 2004. The settlement agreement was between Peoples
Gas
and North Shore Gas with the Attorney General, the City of Chicago and the
Citizens Utility Board.
Peoples
said that achieving certainty and finality on these prior periods is important
for all concerned — customers, employees, shareholders and the company. The
company said that, with these matters now settled, it will focus its full
efforts and resources on moving the company forward and continuing to improve
the quality of service to its one million customers.
The
amended settlement includes:
| · |
$100
million in customer refunds,
|
| · |
Cease
collection activity on approximately $207 million of bad debt written
off
over fiscal 2000-2005 and remove this bad debt from customer
records,
|
| · |
Credit
fiscal 2006 and fiscal 2005 Hub revenues as an offset to customers’ gas
charges,
|
| · |
Implement
ICC recommendations to conduct audits of gas procurement
practices,
|
| · |
Fund
up to $30 million over six years for qualifying conservation programs.
|
Financial
Impacts.
As a
result of the revised settlement, the company will record a $10.7 million
pre-tax settlement charge in its fiscal second quarter to reflect the impact
of
the change in accounting treatment for hub activities for fiscal 2005. This
amount is in addition to the $105 million previously recorded.
The
company also estimates that fiscal 2006 operating income will be negatively
impacted by provisions of the amended settlement agreement. The change for
hub
revenues and the termination of credit and collection efforts on utility bad
debt amounts written off during fiscal years 2000-2005 will likely adversely
impact fiscal 2006 pre-tax operating income by $10 to $20 million.
The
company will provide a full update on its earnings outlook for fiscal 2006
at
the time of its regularly scheduled second quarter earnings release.
Peoples
Energy, a member of the S&P 500, is a diversified energy company consisting
of the following primary business segments: Gas Distribution, Oil and Gas
Production, Energy Marketing, and Energy Assets. The Gas Distribution business
serves about 1 million utility
customers in Chicago and northeastern Illinois. Visit the Peoples Energy website
at PeoplesEnergy.com.
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