Dominion Closes on Purchase of 80-Megawatt Virginia Plant
RICHMOND, Va. – Dominion Virginia Power,
the electric utility subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE: D), Monday closed on the
purchase of an approximately 80-megawatt, wood-burning electric generating facility
in Pittsylvania County, Va.
The facility, which consists of two units, was
owned by Multitrade of Pittsylvania County, L.P.
Before this transaction, power from this facility
was sold to Dominion Virginia Power under a 25-year power purchase contract.
Dominion’s purchase results in an estimated after-tax charge of approximately
$30 million to $40 million and reduces Dominion’s pre-tax capacity payments
to non-utility generators by approximately $16 to $20 million per year for the
period 2005-2018. The savings have been included in Dominion’s current
earnings guidance.
Under Dominion ownership, the facility, which
will be referred to as the Pittsylvania Power Station, will continue to serve
Dominion’s electric customers in Virginia and North Carolina. Dominion’s
purchase of the station is consistent with its continuing efforts to lower the
cost of long-term power purchase contracts with non-utility generators.
Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers
of energy, with an energy portfolio of about 25,500 megawatts of generation,
6.4 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves and 7,900
miles of natural gas transmission pipeline. Dominion also operates the nation's
largest underground natural gas storage system with more than 960 billion cubic
feet of storage capacity and serves retail energy customers in nine states.
For more information about Dominion, visit the company's Web site at www.dom.com.
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This release contains forward-looking statements,
including our expectation that the acquisition of the Multitrade of Pittsylvania
County LP assets will be immediately accretive, that are subject to various
risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from management's projections, forecasts, estimates and expectations include
changes in the expected closing date, changes in the expected adjustment to
the purchase price at closing, changes in capital market conditions affecting
our financing of the acquisition, and changes in our projected future capital
expenditures, including environmental expenditures. Other risks include those
that affect Dominion generally, including those that are detailed from time
to time in our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities
& Exchange Commission.
