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Credit Pacific Service Union NUI Corp., the owner of Elizabethtown Gas, ran up nearly $100 million in losses when it branched out beyond the gas utility business into nonregulated ventures -- a step that proved nearly fatal to the gas company and led to as much as $30 million in added charges for ratepayers, an independent audit has found.

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Credit First Service Union The audit was released yesterday by the state Board of Public Utilities, which is closely monitoring the day-to-day operations of the financially troubled energy holding company. It found that Elizabethtown and three out-of- state utilities owned by NUI routinely subsidized the parent's nonutility businesses at the expense of gas ratepayers.

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Card Credit Mobile Service Bedminster-based NUI, which has been put on the auction block and replaced two chief executives in less than six months, came under regulatory review last April after its credit rating was downgraded five times within two years.

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Card Credit Discover Service "There has been very serious shortcomings at NUI," said John Antonuk, president of Liberty Consulting Group, a Quentin, Pa.- based company that produced the 400-plus-page audit for the BPU. "We have worked with nearly two- thirds of state public utility commissions, and we have never before seen such a pattern of conduct and great economic harm to customers."

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Credit Public Service Union NUI, which faces a separate probe by the state Division of Criminal Justice over the energy- trading practices of one of its non- regulated units, has two weeks to respond to the BPU audit. The company and state regulators are trying to reach a settlement that would recoup some of the money owed to ratepayers, potentially leading to credits for Elizabethtown customers.

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Card Credit Processing Service "We are not happy," BPU President Jeanne Fox said in releasing the audit. It details "highly questionable business transactions and significant and serious violations" of an agency order that allowed NUI to establish an energy holding company in 2001, Fox said.

Center Credit Service Union Elizabethtown Gas, the state's smallest gas utility with 250,000 customers, has been controlled by the Kean family since the mid- 1800s. NUI's chairman, John Kean Sr., is a cousin of former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean.

Card Credit Service Wireless In the mid-1990s, NUI began expanding beyond the safety of its gas utilities, which are strictly regulated by state authorities, into nonregulated businesses like energy trading, environmental services and even telecommunications. The new ventures exposed NUI to the risks of the marketplace.

Credit Security Service Union Last September, Kean's son, John Kean Jr., stepped down as chief executive. His replacement, Mark Abramovic, lasted until January, when NUI brought in Craig Matthews, a former executive with KeySpan Energy in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Credit Report Service Liberty Consulting estimated the failings of NUI's nonregulated units, particularly the energy trading business, ended up costing Elizabethtown customers between $17 million and $30 million. NUI owns smaller utilities in Florida, Maryland and Virginia, but the audit did not address the impact on those gas companies.

Blogspot Com Christian Whether NUI's gas customers recoup the full amount cited by the audit is questionable given the company's precarious financial position and efforts to sell the company.

Christian Counseling Credit "The bottom line is, customers need to have good gas service," said Fox, who has repeatedly insisted ratepayers be made whole. "We don't want them to pay more than they should, and the sale of the company is very important."

Credit Federal Service Union Late yesterday, NUI issued a statement saying the company is in talks with BPU officials and will issue a response to the audit in the near future.

Credit Monitoring Service "Elizabethtown Gas has consistently provided safe, reliable and efficient service to its customers, even while the company was addressing a number of challenges," Matthews said in the statement. "We are pleased that this critical fact has been affirmed by the full report."

Credit Division Service While NUI's cash flow is now relatively good, Antonuk said the company's debt load is ominous. "It cannot survive indefinitely paying 10 (percent) or 11 percent interest rates." That is about five times the rate most other utilities pay, he said.

Card Credit Online Service Because of the repeated credit downgrades, NUI ended up paying high interest rates when it refinanced various credit lines last November. The audit found the parent's credit problems nearly sank Elizabethtown Gas, which was forced to purchase gas on deferred- payment plans. The added interest costs led ratepayers to pay $3.2 million more than they otherwise would have.

Consumer Counseling Credit Inc Customers also took a hit because of an ill-advised deal with Enron Corp., the Houston energy giant whose bankruptcy in late 2001 sent energy markets into a downturn. Earlier that year, NUI Energy Brokers, a unit that purchased gas for the utilities, entered into a deal to purchase $49.3 million worth of gas from Enron under a deferred-payment deal.

Card Credit Fleet Service When Enron began to implode because of its own bookkeeping problems, the Houston company told NUI Energy Brokers it needed immediate payment of the $49.3 million. At the time, Enron owed the NUI unit $4.8 million in separate deals.

Card Consolidation Credit NUI Energy Brokers, which had purchased the gas for Elizabethtown, hit the utility up for the $49.3 million in December 2001. Enron then paid NUI Energy Brokers the $4.8 million it was owed. The auditor found the energy trading unit should have assigned at least $3 million of that money to Elizabethtown Gas.

Credit Free Online Report The audit also found that NUI Energy Brokers sacrificed the interests of NUI's utility customers in favor of its own profits. When selling gas to Elizabethtown, the energy trading unit is allowed to earn a profit of no more than 15 percent. But NUI Energy Brokers can charge as much as the market will bear when selling to other customers.

Credit Federal First Service The audit found that when the trading unit purchased gas at a low price, it would steer the sale to the open market in order to maximize profit. Gas it purchased at higher prices would be resold to Elizabethtown, further socking ratepayers.

Consumer Credit Service Liberty Consulting concluded that NUI Energy Broker's trading practices ended up saddling Elizabethtown customers with between $6 million and $14.6 million in added costs.

Center Credit Family Service By Tom Johnson
Star-Ledger - 3/18/2004

Topic: Petroleum Industry

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