NiSource Inc. is reporting a net income for the third quarter of $19.3 million or 6 cents basic earnings per share, compared to $34.7 million or 12 cents for the year-ago period.

Those results reflect the costs to achieve a pipeline modernization settlement which subsidiary Columbia Gas Transmission filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in September, the company said in a statement released today.

“The modernization settlement will provide significant long-term benefits to all key stakeholders,” NiSource President and CEO Robert Skaggs Jr. said. “By partnering with our customers, we’ve developed a collaborative settlement that supports good public policy, while creating a win-win for customers, pipeline integrity, economic growth, and shareholder value.”

Skaggs also indicated that NiSource is “solidly on track to achieve its 2012 earnings guidance,” while “advancing its long-term strategy to produce increased shareholder value and sustainable earnings growth of 5-7 percent annually.”

In addition, NiSource updated the activities and initiatives of its Indiana subsidiary, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company:

•NIPSCO’s “electric margins continued to remain strong in the third quarter, following implementation of 2011 regulatory initiatives.”

•NIPSCO is on schedule with its $500 million flue gas desulfurization project at its Schahfer generating station.

•NIPSCO received approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to proceed with a similar desulfurization project at its Michigan City generating station, this one costing an estimated $250 million.

•In the third quarter the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved NIPSCO’s right to develop 50 percent of a $330 million transmission project: the construction of a new 66-mile 765-kilovolt transmission line in Center Indiana.

•Gas distribution: $16.2 million ($7.9 million in the year-ago). The company attributed the improvement to increases in regulatory and service programs, chiefly involving Columbia Gas of Ohio and Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania.

•Gas transmission and storage: $38.8 million ($68.2 million in the year-ago). The company attributed the decline to the Columbia Gas Transmission settlement.

•Electric: $83.6 million ($78.8 million in the year-ago). The company cited lower revenue credits and increased industrial and commercial margins, both the results of NIPSCO 2011 electric rate case.

•Corporate: an operating loss of $1.4 million ($7.5 million in the year-ago).

•Total operating income: $137.2 million ($147.4 million in the year-ago).

Posted 11/2/2012