Piedmont Natural Gas debuts consumer-friendly carbon-reducing program for South Carolina and Tennessee customers

• GreenEdgeSM allows customers to contribute toward their carbon emissions reduction goals through the purchase of 'blocks' representing a blend of renewable natural gas environmental attributes and carbon offsets
• Customers can purchase GreenEdgeSM blocks starting at $3 a month
• Blocks purchased by participating North Carolina customers in 2022 offset greenhouse emissions equivalent to driving an average car nearly 1 million miles

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Residential and commercial Piedmont Natural Gas customers in South Carolina and Tennessee now can reduce the impact of their own natural gas usage by participating in GreenEdge – a voluntary program that offers customers the opportunity to purchase green "blocks" from Piedmont and then claim the associated environmental benefits.

Piedmont Natural Gas customers can subscribe to one block for $3 a month. Each block funds carbon offset projects that help protect forests and wetlands as well as renewable natural gas projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"The GreenEdge program was designed based on customer feedback to provide access to tools and programs for customers to pursue their own carbon-reduction goals," said Sasha Weintraub, senior vice president and president of Piedmont Natural Gas. "We consider it an important part of Piedmont's own clean energy transformation, as well. We're excited to now make GreenEdge available to our South Carolina and Tennessee customers."

Piedmont made the GreenEdge program available to its North Carolina customers last summer. By the end of 2022, enrolled customers offset 367 metric tons of carbon emissions, or the equivalent of greenhouse emissions created by driving an average gasoline-powered car for 940,822 miles.

Each $3 block is equivalent to 12.5 therms of natural gas usage. Just one block is equal to 25% of an average household's monthly natural gas usage, meaning customers who purchase four blocks could claim associated environmental benefits for approximately 100% of their monthly household natural gas usage.

Carbon offsets and renewable natural gas environmental attributes are defined as:

• Carbon offset – a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions created when 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions, or other greenhouse gas equivalent, is captured, avoided or destroyed to compensate for an equivalent emission made elsewhere.
• Renewable natural gas environmental attribute – reflects measurable and verifiable generation of natural gas via renewable and sustainable biomass sources, such as wastewater, landfills, agricultural waste or food waste.

When a customer purchases a block, Piedmont will add the associated charges to that customer's bill. There is no limit on how many blocks a customer can purchase. Participating customers will receive an annual report highlighting their contributions and their overall effect on GreenEdge, which is a self-funding program.

Piedmont received approval for GreenEdge from the South Carolina Public Service Commission in April 2023 and from the Tennessee Public Utility Commission in March 2023.

For more information or to enroll in GreenEdge, visit Piedmont's GreenEdge webpage.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, distributes natural gas to more than 1.1 million residential, commercial, industrial and power generation customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Piedmont Natural Gas earned the No. 1 spot in customer satisfaction with residential natural gas service in the South among large utilities, according to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Gas Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, and has been named by Cogent Reports as one of the most trusted utility brands in the U.S. More information: www.piedmontng.com. Follow Piedmont Natural Gas: Twitter, Facebook.

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Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 28,000 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company has interim carbon emission targets of at least 50% reduction from electric generation by 2030, 50% for Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions by 2035, and 80% from electric generation by 2040. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

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