Marketing natural gas as clean energy - CharlotteObserver.com

Bruce Henderson: bhenderson@charlotteobserver.com

"The policy is pretty effective the way it stands now. We never shut off gas when upcoming weather is freezing or below. What has changed, though, are the types of programs we've instituted to assist our customers. We adopted a Share the Warmth program ( www.piedmontng.com), a new program designed to create a fund to help low-income customers pay their energy bills. On a voluntary basis, our customers can agree to round up their monthly bill payment to the next dollar. Across our three-state market, about 15,000 customers have signed up, creating about $90,000 a year in supplemental funding. In North Carolina, about 11,000 customers have donated $60,000."