Atmos Energy 1999 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Atmos
Energy
Corporation
10
Utility Operations Snapshot: Atmos serves more than one
million natural gas customers in Colorado, Georgia,
Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri,
South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia through
five utility business units with their own local brand
identities – Energas Company, Greeley Gas Company,
Trans Louisiana Gas Company, United Cities Gas
Company, and Western Kentucky Gas Company.
Atmos’ utility operations remain our core business. We are intensely focused on running our
utility operations exceptionally well. We intend to grow earnings year over year by profitably
growing our customer base, improving our efficiency and earning our allowed rates of return.
We are dedicated to building customer loyalty through ensuring safe, reliable gas service;
achieving exceptional customer satisfaction ratings; making it easy for customers to do business
with us; providing competitive gas rates; and capitalizing on our strong local brand identities.
Financial performance. Utility operations reported net income of $10.8 million on revenues
of $621.2 million in 1999, or about 89 percent of total revenues and about 61 percent of total
net income. This compares with utility net income of $43.3 million on revenues of $739.9
million in 1998. Utility revenues and net income were lower in 1999 primarily because of winter
weather that was about 15 percent warmer than normal and about 11 percent warmer than
last year, reducing sales to weather sensitive customers.
Enhancing efficiency and convenience. Our 1999 utility operating and maintenance
costs of $141 per meter remain among the best in the industry. We are ahead of many com-
panies in having the technology that gives Atmos the foundation for exceptional customer
service while improving our efficiency. In 1999, the Company completed the implementation
of a new customer information system that integrates the Company’s Customer Support
Center with other technology used in the field, including automated dispatching of service
orders to in-truck terminals and electronic meter reading devices.
To make it easy for customers to do business with Atmos, the Customer Support Center han-
dles customer calls from all five utility business units 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A net-
work of nearly 300 payment centers in convenience and grocery stores offers extended hours
to customers. The implementation of the new customer information system included a new bill
Running Our Utilities Exceptionally Well