SCANA Energy Reports Customer Growth Versus September 30 Total

SCANA Energy reported earnings of $24 million for the year 2011, compared to $31 million in 2010, parent SCANA Corporation said yesterday.

The decrease is attributable to lower throughput due to milder than normal weather.

Earnings in the fourth quarter of 2011 were $10 million, essentially flat with the year-ago $10 million.

At December 31, 2011, SCANA Energy was serving approximately 455,000 customers. This is up from about 450,000 as of September 30, 2011, but down 1.9 percent from the "over 460,000" customers served as of December 31, 2010.

The year-over-year reduction in customer count was, in particular, due to a loss of customers in the Regulated Provider program, for which SCANA Energy is the provider, offset in part by customer growth on SCANA Energy's competitive offerings.

SCANA Energy said that the prepay offerings of several marketers act as an alternative to the regulated provider offer, which was, in part, designed as a provider of last resort for customers with credit problems or histories of nonpayment.

Furthermore, SCANA Energy said that customers have been slower to connect their gas service this winter, due to the unseasonably mild temperatures.