Unitil Earnings Rise In 2012
New Hampshire-based Unitil Corp., which provides electricity and natural gas service to customers in Northern Worcester County, said earnings for 2012 were up 11 percent over 2011, to $18.1 million.
However, earnings per share dropped from $1.50 in 2011 and $1.43 last year, reflecting the higher number of outstanding shares year over year, Unitil said.
According to the company, higher natural gas and electricity sales margins, due to higher distribution rates and new customer growth, had a positive impact on the year's results. However, they were negatively affected by sales impacted by weather fluctuations. Unitil said mild weather in 2012 negatively impacted earnings by about $1.7 million, or 14 cents per share.
"In 2012, the company recorded the highest net income in its history," Unitil Chairman and CEO Robert G. Schoenberger said. "The combination of continued customer growth in both our natural gas and electric utility businesses and the resetting of distribution rates for our utilities resulted in strong year over year financial results."
Schoenberger said the utility added and converted more than 2,000 customers to natural gas in 2012, up 50 percent from 2011.
"This year we plan to continue to build on this growth initiative by targeting 4,000 gas customer additions and conversions, or double the activity from 2012," he said.
Natural gas sales margins were $76.2 million in 2012, up $8.3 million from 2011, while electricity sales margins were $71.9 million, up by $4.3 million. Both were a reflection of higher distribution rates and new customer growth, but partially offset by lower sales, mostly from the first quarter, due to mild winter weather.
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