Piedmont Natural Gas Partners With Industry Group To Provide Natural Gas Shuttle Buses For Democratic National Convention

Part of Broader Effort to Promote Use of Clean, Affordable Natural Gas in Vehicles

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Sep 03, 2012, 08:00 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Delegates, media and other visitors in Charlotte this week for the 2012 Democratic National Convention will get around town on shuttle buses fueled by clean, affordable, American natural gas, thanks to a partnership between Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) and America's Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA).

Piedmont Natural Gas, which serves more than 1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, will provide the compressed natural gas (CNG) to fuel 12 buses that will be used to provide transportation to convention-goers for the Sept. 4-6 event.

"Piedmont Natural Gas is pleased to partner with ANGA to showcase the benefits of natural gas vehicles, including substantial cost savings over other transportation fuels and significant environmental benefits," said Jane Lewis-Raymond, senior vice president of Piedmont Natural Gas. "As part of our broader commitment to sustainability, Piedmont is diligently working to promote the use of natural gas vehicles throughout our service territory. We are collaborating with both private- and public sector fleet operators, expanding the number of refueling stations available to natural gas vehicles and converting our own fleet of service vehicles to natural gas."

With the discovery of vast supplies of American natural gas from shale deposits driving down the wholesale price of natural gas, a CNG-fueled shuttle bus like the ones being used in Charlotte this week can be operated at a cost savings of $1.69 per diesel gallon equivalent. That's how much less it would cost for a natural gas bus to travel the same distance a conventional bus could travel on one gallon of diesel fuel.

"Residential, commercial and industrial customers are also reaping great benefits from these new supplies by converting to natural gas for heating, hot water, power generation and other needs, " Lewis-Raymond said. "In the process, natural gas is creating American jobs and increasing U.S. energy security, which is great news for everyone."

ANGA also provided CNG-fueled buses for the Republican National Convention in Tampa Aug. 28-30 under a similar partnership with TECO Energy Inc., a Tampa-based energy services company.

About Piedmont Natural Gas
Piedmont Natural Gas 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 53,000 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. More information about Piedmont Natural Gas is available at http://www.piedmontng.com.

SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas