Gas Natural Inc. Announces Extensions of Market-based Utility Rates in Maine and North Carolina

MENTOR, Ohio, July 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Gas Natural Inc. (NYSE MKT: EGAS) ("Gas Natural" or the "Company"), a holding company operating local natural gas utility companies serving approximately 73,000 customers in seven states, today announced that the utility regulators in Maine and North Carolina have agreed not to seek a change in the Company's current market-based rate structures in those states.

Mr. Gregory J. Osborne, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gas Natural, commented, "We have been proactive in meeting with each of our state commissions and their staffs to further solidify our relationships and maintain transparency.  Recently, we established an alternative rate plan in Maine with respect to our Bangor Gas subsidiary.  To promote our investment in natural gas conversions, the Maine alternative rate plan locks in Gas Natural's existing rates for seven years.  That is a very favorable result for us, incentivizing us to continue to convert our Loring Pipeline which enables businesses and homes in the Maine market to realize the cost benefits of clean, energy efficient and readily abundant natural gas."

In addition to the alternative rate plan structure which will be effective for seven years, the Company is working with the Staff on implementing service-related standards.

Mr. Osborne continued, "In addition to the above, we achieved a mutually beneficial stipulation agreement in North Carolina with our Frontier Natural Gas subsidiary that protects our current rate structure there for at least five years.  We will also establish a $2.45 million regulatory asset from our deferred gas cost account to settle our gas cost accounting review.  This stipulation provides a level of certainty and financial stability that is beneficial to both Frontier and its ratepayers." 

The North Carolina regulatory assets account will be amortized over a sixty-month period beginning July 1, 2014, coincident with the settlement agreement.  The effect on annual earnings per share is an estimated $0.03.  The remaining $1.35 million deferred gas cost account balance which arose from winter 2014 gas purchases will continue to be recovered through an existing surcharge and the wholesale gas cost benchmark in rates. 

Mr. Osborne concluded, "We are building a new culture in the Company that establishes high standards, accountability and an acceptance of change and growth."

About Gas Natural Inc.
Gas Natural Inc., a holding company, distributes and sells natural gas to end-use residential, commercial, and industrial customers.  It distributes approximately 36 billion cubic feet of natural gas to approximately 73,000 customers through regulated utilities operating in Montana, Wyoming, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maine, North Carolina and Kentucky.  The Company's other operations include interstate pipeline, natural gas production and natural gas marketing.  The Company's Montana public utility was originally incorporated in 1909.  Its strategy for growth is to expand throughput in the Maine and North Carolina markets while looking for acquisitions that are either adjacent to its existing utilities or in under saturated markets.  Gas Natural Inc. regularly posts information on its website at www.egas.net.

Safe Harbor Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The Company is including the following cautionary statement in this release to make applicable and to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, Gas Natural Inc. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, those that are identified by the use of the words "anticipates," "estimates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes" and similar expressions. Such statements are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed.  Factors that may affect forward-looking statements and the Company's business generally include but are not limited to the Company's ability to successfully integrate the operations of the companies it has recently acquired and consummate additional acquisitions, the Company's continued ability to make dividend payments, the Company's ability to implement its business plan, fluctuating energy commodity prices, the possibility that regulators may not permit the Company to pass through all of its increased costs to its customers, changes in the utility regulatory environment, wholesale and retail competition, the Company's ability to satisfy its debt obligations, including compliance with financial covenants, weather conditions, litigation risks, and various other matters, many of which are beyond the Company's control, the risk factors and cautionary statements made in the Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other factors that the Company is currently unable to identify or quantify, but may exist in the future. Gas Natural Inc. expressly undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Gas Natural Inc.'s expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

SOURCE Gas Natural Inc.

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