But home towns change, and so do the forces that affect a utility’s success. To remain a leader in the natural gas industry as well as a respected corporate citizen, our business model has to be flexible and dynamic.

In 2006, we took a hard look at ourselves to see if we were meeting our own expectations – as well as those of our customers, our employees and our shareholders. In response to what we learned, we spent 2007 restructuring large parts of NW Natural. By centralizing key functions, integrating our work into a process-driven model, and identifying areas to improve our business practices, we are prepared to take on future competitive challenges.

We know we’re on the right track by looking at 2007 results. In addition to controlling our operational expenses, we reversed a trend of declining conversions and found new ways to better serve our customers.

For example, we’ve worked hard to make our Web site convenient and easy to use, and customers are taking notice. With more than 215,000 customers registered to use our site’s self-service area, visits to our online service features increased by 34 percent last year to more than 2 million. We’ve also improved our call center’s response time by 13 percent through a series of technology enhancements and contracting for peak-season help.

Today we are a more fluid and responsive company and we intend to keep growing and evolving. It’s what we’ve all come to expect from NW Natural.

( page 2 of 2 )