Dominion Retail Acquires 132,000 Illinois Natural
Gas Choice Customers From Nicor Energy
Richmond, VA and Lisle, IL -- Dominion Retail, a subsidiary
of Dominion (NYSE:D), today announced the acquisition of approximately 132,000
commercial and residential customer accounts in deregulated natural gas markets
in northern Illinois. The accounts were acquired from Nicor Energy, a retail
energy marketer owned equally by Nicor, Inc. (NYSE:GAS) and Dynegy (NYSE:DYN).
Dominion currently serves natural gas customers in Illinois
and will now have more than 1.1 million customer accounts in Northeast and Midwest
markets. About 725,000 of these customers purchase natural gas or electricity
through Customer Choice programs. The remaining customers buy energy-related
products and services.
The 132,000 accounts acquired from Nicor
Energy are as follows:
Approximately 126,000 customers in the Nicor Gas Customer
Select program in northern Illinois, and 6,000 city of Chicago customers in
the Peoples Gas Choices for You program.
93,000 customers are residential, 39,000 customers are
commercial.
"We've enjoyed serving Illinois natural gas customers,
and we are excited at the opportunity to gain even more customers in one of
the best natural gas markets in the nation," said Richard Zelenko, general
manager of Dominion Retail. "As the deregulated natural gas and electricity
markets grow, we expect to bring energy products and services to more customers
in Illinois."
Customers' prices and other terms will not change, and customers
will continue to receive one bill from either Nicor Gas or Peoples Gas. Also,
the utilities will continue to be responsible for emergency response, pipes
and delivery, meter reading, bill issuance and remittance and related services.
Nicor Energy President Kevin Kirby stated: "While we
believe in customer choice, changes in the energy markets have caused both of
our owners to reassess their strategies going forward. Having made the decision
to exit this business, we are very pleased that we have found a reputable and
certified energy provider like Dominion to continue to serve our former customers."
Customers will be notified by letter over the coming weeks
and do not have to take any action at this time. Customers can contact Dominion
Retail at 1-800-260-7297 or visit their website at www.dom.com.
Dominion Retail is a non-utility provider of competitively
priced natural gas and electricity, and also provides a variety of related products
and services to homes and businesses. It is headquartered in Richmond, Va.,
and is a subsidiary of Dominion, one of the nation’s largest energy companies.
