The Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co., a subsidiary of Cinergy Corp. (NYSE:CIN), announced today that it plans to either construct or purchase new generating facilities in Ohio to meet the future needs of its customers in Southwest Ohio.
"To assure reliable service in the future, we need to add new generating capacity in the next several years, since we have not added generation to the CG&E system nearly 12 years," said Cinergy Chairman, President and CEO James E. Rogers. "Our load planning studies clearly support the need for generating capacity in the state, both to serve existing demands and to best serve Ohio's economic and energy future."
The company today filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio an application that will allow it to recover the costs of additional generating facilities in Ohio in the future, for either construction of new electric generating facilities or the purchase of existing assets currently owned by others. "We're asking Commission approval to recover the full costs of additional generating facilities over the life of the assets," Rogers said.
CG&E would make these investments to meet ongoing load growth by customers receiving generation service from CG&E and enable the company to reliably meet its obligation as the provider of last resort for customers returning to CG&E from alternate suppliers. To maintain flexibility in providing electric service at the lowest cost, CG&E is also seeking the authority to purchase existing capacity and power from other suppliers and to earn a return commensurate with the risk from these agreements.
"We want Ohio to have the electric generating capacity to fuel its future growth," said Rogers. "These proposals allow us to plan now for the needs of our customers in the future, setting the stage for the next decade of economic development and growth."
CG&E serves approximately 650,000 electric customers in southwestern Ohio and is a subsidiary of Cinergy Corp., one of the nation's leading diversified energy companies.
This document includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by terms and phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect", "continue", "should", "could", "may", "plan", "project", "predict", "will", and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from the results predicted. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in any forward-looking statement include, but are not limited to, unanticipated weather conditions; unscheduled generation outages; unusual maintenance or repairs; unanticipated changes in costs; environmental incidents, including costs of compliance with existing and future environmental requirements; electric transmission or gas pipeline system constraints; legislative and regulatory initiatives; additional competition in electric or gas markets and continued industry consolidation; financial or regulatory accounting principles; political, legal, and economic conditions and developments in the countries in which we have a presence; changing market conditions and other factors related to physical energy and financial trading activities; the performance of projects undertaken by our non-regulated businesses and the success of efforts to invest in and develop new opportunities; availability of, or cost of, capital; employee workforce factors; delays and other obstacles associated with mergers, acquisitions, and investments in joint ventures; and costs and effects of legal and administrative proceedings, settlements, investigations, and claims. Please refer to the company's SEC filings for additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update the information contained herein.