• According to the 2023 American Gas Association Playbook, nearly 187 million Americans and 5.8 million businesses use natural gas because it is affordable, reliable and safe.
• Customer demand for energy services, especially natural gas, continues in all our service areas. In 2022, we experienced a 5% increase in natural gas residential customers, and the growth is expected to continue.
• Earlier this year, we announced plans to expand natural gas infrastructure in Nassau County, Florida, and we received FERC approval to construct additional compression facilities in Sussex County, Delaware. These projects wouldn’t be possible without our dedicated gas workers.

Source: American Petroleum Institute

• Natural gas has existed for millions of years underneath the Earth’s core. In 500 B.C., Chinese civilizations created crude pipelines made from bamboo shoots to transport the gas. The gas was used as a fuel source to create drinking water, by boiling sea water to separate the salt.
• Natural gas was found in America in 1626 by French explorers who noticed that the Native Americans were igniting gases that seeped from Lake Erie. More than 100 years later in 1785, Britain became the first country to commercialize the use of natural gas, using it to fuel lighthouses and streetlights.

• Residences and industries located in areas without natural gas pipelines often rely on propane gas to provide efficient energy.
• Propane is a byproduct of natural gas.
• More than 90% of propane is produced in the USA.
• In 2022, we welcomed propane gas workers and customers from Hernando Gas in Florida and from Davenport Energy’s Siler City propane division in North Carolina.

• RNG is fossil-free natural gas produced mainly from landfills, wastewater facilities, animal manure and food waste.
• Anaerobic digestion and on-site collection systems create and capture biogas, which is then upgraded to a low-carbon gas alternative. Once treated and cleaned, RNG is injected into the existing pipeline for transportation fuel and for use in homes and businesses, helping offset CO2 emissions.
• Recently, the Company announced plans to develop its first RNG facility in Florida, and we announced the completion of an RNG injection point in Yulee, Florida. More about the Company’s entry into the RNG market will be available later this year in the Sustainability Report.

In 1821, the first intended mission to obtain natural gas in America was a dig in Fredonia, New York, by William Hart. Hart is known as the “father of natural gas” as he pioneered the first American natural gas company known as the Fredonia Gas Light Company.

After World War II, the natural gas pipeline industry boom began. By the 1960s, thousands of miles of natural gas pipelines were constructed in America, and the industry has continued to grow.