The Board of Directors of Citizens Gas & Coke Utility recently announced the promotion of Carey B. Lykins to President and Chief Executive Officer of the utility. Formerly Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Lykins succeeds David Griffiths, who has retired after more than seven years as President and CEO, and 27 years of service to the utility.

“Carey Lykins is a dynamic leader with a proven track record characterized by sound judgment, innovation and outstanding communications skills,” said Board of Directors President James Wade. “Like his predecessor Dave Griffiths, Carey understands how to motivate employees to ensure that the Public Charitable Trust lives up to its vision of being the best at customer satisfaction in the eyes of the customer and therefore become the local distribution company of utility services.”

Lykins said, “It has been a true privilege to have served the Public Charitable Trust for more than 30 years and I am humbled by the challenge of carrying on the legacy left by Dave Griffiths and his predecessors. I look forward to leading our increasingly diverse workforce as it tackles the difficult issues of today's volatile energy market, while maintaining the high standards of customer satisfaction we have established over the past several years.”
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Energy Price Increases Certain,
the Weather is Not

When it comes to energy prices and the weather this winter, the first is certain and the other unpredictable.

Meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predict this winter to be warmer than the 30-year norm, yet cooler than last year. NOAA's heating degree day forecast for December, January and February projects a 0.7 percent warmer winter than the 30-year normal, but 6.5 percent cooler than last year. Therefore, people can expect, on average, more cooler days this winter than last. "With the absence of El Niño and La Niña this year's winter outlook presents a challenge to seasonal forecasters," said Jim Laver, director of the NOAA Climate Prediction Center. "Shorter term climate fluctuations that are best predicted week-by-week are expected to play the dominate role on the weather patterns this winter," he added.
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Years of Short-Term Strategy Create a Crunch in Natural Gas

Behind the soaring natural-gas bill consumers face this winter are powerful economic and political forces that drove the industry to think short-term. That approach seemed to serve it well for years but isn't working now, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Many utilities have shunned multiyear supply contracts, forcing them to buy much of the gas they sell at or near the current market price. Regulators have discouraged hedging against price increases. Gas producers have focused on wells they could drill quickly.

All those policies made sense in the 1990s, when prices were mostly falling and forecasters saw a long era of cheap natural gas ahead. The downside: When supplies tighten, consumers feel the hit quickly.
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Citizens Receives Approval for Heartland Pipeline

Citizens Gas & Coke Utility and ProLiance Energy recently received approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to construct and operate a new 25-mile pipeline to provide Central Indiana direct access to affordable, clean-burning natural gas from the western United States and Canada.

Heartland Gas Pipeline will be the first new source of gas connected to the Citizens Gas system since 1986 and represents its first direct access to gas from Canada and the western United States.

Heartland Gas Pipeline, a 50/50 joint venture of subsidiaries of Citizens Gas and ProLiance Energy, will build and operate a 16-inch diameter pipeline to transport up to 80,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas to the region (a typical central Indiana home uses approximately 120 dekatherms per year). The $17 million pipeline in southern Indiana will begin at an interconnect with the Midwestern Gas Transmission system in Sullivan County and extend about 25 miles east through Clay County to the Citizens Gas Underground Storage facilities in Greene County. Construction of the new pipeline is expected to begin in the spring with service to begin by November 2006.
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J.D. Power Study Again Ranks Citizens Gas Among Best Midwest Utilities

Citizens Gas & Coke Utility has tied for second for Overall Customer Satisfaction among 20 utilities in the Midwest, according to an independent study of residential gas utility customers conducted by J.D. Power and Associates®.

The Overall Customer Satisfaction Index for Citizens Gas was 104, tied for second in the Midwest with CenterPoint Energy and Louisville Gas & Electric. Mid-American Energy of Iowa finished first. Citizens' customer satisfaction score compared to an industry average of 101 and a Midwest average of 97. Customers also ranked Citizens Gas second in the Midwest for price and value and well above industry averages for commitment to the local community, ease of understanding your bill and being honest and ethical.

“This marks the third straight year that Citizens Gas has been among the best utilities in the Midwest for customer satisfaction. These high rankings are especially gratifying because we know customers have been struggling with rising wholesale natural gas prices beyond the utility's control. The latest J.D. Power results are another indication that our diverse and dedicated work force is driving Citizens Gas towards its vision of being the local distribution company of utility services,” commented Carey Lykins, President and CEO of Citizens Gas.

The J.D. Power findings mirror a recent customer satisfaction study for Citizens Thermal which found 100 percent of Thermal customers thought the utility met or exceeded their expecations.