Laclede Gas Files for 15% Rate Reduction Due to Lower Gas Supply Costs

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Customers of Laclede Gas Company can expect to see appreciably lower monthly gas bills going into the 2009-10 heating season (defined as November through March). Laclede Gas today filed a request with the Missouri Public Service Commission to lower its rates by 15% compared to existing rates due to reduced gas supply costs which the Company is required to flow through to its customers. If approved, it would be the third consecutive rate decrease going into a heating season. The portion of Laclede's rates related to the recovery of the costs it incurs for the delivery of gas to customers through its distribution system was not impacted by today's filing.

As a result of this decrease, the amount paid by a typical residential customer during the 2009-10 heating season will be down roughly $118, or $24 per month, from the amount the customer would have paid based on last winter's rates. Compared to when rates peaked during the 2005-06 heating season, the amount paid by a typical residential customer will be down about $258, or nearly $52 per month, for the upcoming heating season.

"We're pleased to announce that our customers will receive some welcome relief on their gas bills this winter," said Michael Cline, director of tariff and rate administration for Laclede Gas. "This latest decrease is largely the result of a reduction in the cost of gas the Company stored this past summer for use this winter as natural gas prices remained down from the record peak they reached in the middle of last year."

Customers will pay an average price of $0.66 per therm for natural gas for the 2009-10 heating season, down from $0.83 per therm for the 2008-09 heating season and $1.05 per therm in the 2005-06 heating season.

Customers can learn more steps to reduce their natural gas usage through conservation techniques, purchasing high-efficiency appliances and other energy-efficiency ideas at Laclede's new website: www.originalgreenenergy.com.

A subsidiary of The Laclede Group (NYSE: LG), Laclede Gas Company has provided safe and reliable service to the residents of the St. Louis metropolitan area for more than 150 years. It is the largest gas distribution company in Missouri, serving more than 630,000 natural gas customers in St. Louis and surrounding counties in Eastern Missouri.