Natural gas safety and consumer information • March 2011 • nwnatural.com

Comfort ZoneComfort Zone

Three years ago NW Natural

launched Smart Energy, a

voluntary offset program that

promised to help our customers

reduce their carbon footprint and

bring biogas to the region. In that

time Smart Energy has helped

customers reach their carbon-

reduction goals, while assisting

several dairies in turning cow

waste into a renewable biogas.

Thank you for your support.

For more information and to

enroll in Smart Energy visit

nwnatural.com/smart.

Smart Energy is Celebrating Three Years

11,076Number of customers

who have signed up for Smart Energy

79,505Total tons of emission

reductions Smart Energy customers have funded

13,791Equivalent reduction in

number of cars removedfrom the road for a year

Are you in the market for a newly built home this year? Before you start shopping, put energy efficiency on your “must have” list. Besides offering year-round comfort, an energy-efficient home helps minimize energy costs and reduce your carbon footprint.

To find the most efficient homes on the market, ask your builder or real estate professional for a home that has earned an Energy Performance Score, developed by Energy Trust of Oregon. Homes with an EPS have been rated on estimated energy use, carbon emissions and energy costs. The lower the score, the better the choice – for your budget and the environment.

To learn more about EPS-rated homes, participating builders, architects and real estate professionals, call 877.283.0698 toll free or visit energytrust.org/eps.

Choose a new home that performs

this spring, tour homes with an ePS at the Ultimate open House, may 13-15 and may 20-22.

for details, visit UltimateopenHouse.net.

nW natural – your partner in safety

As your local natural gas provider, we want you to know all that we are doing to ensure the safety of our pipeline system.

We have one of the nation’s most proactive pipeline safety programs NW Natural is one of the first gas utilities in the U.S. to replace all our cast iron pipes with polyethylene pipes and cathodically protected and coated steel pipes. These pipe materials are highly resistant to corrosion and have an expected life of up to 100 years.

We constantly monitor the safety of our system Our gas controllers are at work, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, monitoring pressures and flows on

our transmission system to identify changes that could indicate a potential problem.

We conduct frequent patrols, surveys and inspections of our transmission lines (bigger, higher pressure pipes that make up less than 3 percent of NW Natural’s system). We check these pipelines by conducting surveys using sensitive electronic leakage detection instruments at least once every year.

Field technicians survey our transmis-sion and distribution pipelines (smaller, lower pressure lines) each year in business districts and places of public occupancy, and we conduct other surveys over our entire distribu-tion pipeline system at least once every five years.

Each year, we also check our steel distribution pipes to make sure anti-corrosion protection is function-ing properly, and we regularly test

to make sure the “odorant” (rotten egg/sulfur smell) is at an appropriate level to alert customers to possible gas leaks.

You can learn more about natural gas safety at nwnatural.com.

NW Natural meets or exceeds all federal and state pipeline safety regulations.

Our transmission pipeline safety efforts are managed under a federal pipeline

Integrity Management Program.

In addition to all our monitoring and inspection activities, our employees

complete approximately 500,000 routine field visits each year, during which they are trained to observe and report any

pipeline safety issues.

Let us help you Go BLUe with a high-efficiency natural gas furnace and tankless water heater package. All you have to do is visit nwnaturaloffers.com and follow the instructions for submitting a short home video showing your heating woes for a chance to win the grand prize package.

We’ll post the videos that are most relevant and creative for the public to view and vote on. Act quickly because the challenge ends on March 31, 2011.

Visit nwnaturaloffers.com for details and official rules.

Need your NW Natural bill and payment information for tax purposes? Get it quickly and easily at nwnatural.com/taxes.

It’s not too late to enter the video challenge

tax time is here

HiGH-efficiency natural gas furnace offer nW natural Certified Contractors make it easy

Stop worrying about your old furnace breaking down and save hundreds of dollars in repairs. Upgrade to a 95% high-efficiency natural gas furnace from a NW Natural Certified Contractor and you can qualify for up to $650 back in Oregon and up to $400 back in Washington. Both offers include a $100 credit on your gas bill.

After you have made your upgrade decision, our expert certified contractors will work closely with you to ensure you’re happy with your installation. They respond quickly, leave your home as clean as they found it, and provide a minimum one-year warranty on all parts and labor. They’ll even help you complete the incentives paperwork.

To take advantage of this offer, visit nwnaturaloffers.com.

Popular models of natural gas furnaces are now up to 98 percent efficient, and their performance is not affected by the climate or outdoor temperature.

Natural gas tankless water heaters are extremely energy efficient – heating water only when it’s needed and providing up to 40 percent energy savings over an electric tank water heater.

BLUE hates wasting energy

NaTural gaS IS SuPEr EffIcIENT

managing your gas account online jUst Got easier

At NW Natural, we’re always working to serve you better. So we asked customers how to make our website easier and more useful, and we used your input to make the changes you wanted to see. Then we tested the new site to be sure it would meet with your approval. It did – and now it’s ready for everyone to give it try.

Here are some of the new things you will notice:

the dashboardWe put the information you use the most in one central location called the dashboard. This feature will help you easily manage your gas bill online. When you register at our site and log-in, you will be taken directly to your personal dash-board. From the dashboard you will see an overview of your account and tabs to view your bill, your payment history and your usage history.

fresh design and navigationWe gave the site a fresh new look and navigation structure, but it isn’t just for show. The site was carefully studied, designed and tested, placing the information customers used the most at the top levels. Finding information and doing business with us online is now quicker than before.

you decide Visit nwnatural.com and take the video tour by clicking on the WatcH noW link on the home page. Then, travel around and let us know what you think. After all, it’s your feedback that will help us continue to improve.

register today for a chance to win $100Every NW Natural customer that registers to use our site between March 1, 2011 and April 30, 2011 will be entered into a drawing to Win one of five $100 Visa gift cards.