PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwire - April 8, 2008) - NW Natural (
NYSE:
NWN) is proud to announce an
important benchmark: more than 62,000 of its customers are signed up for
paperless billing.
According to Chartwell Incorporated, a utility research firm, the industry
average for paperless billing is less than six percent; while close to 10
percent of NW Natural customers now receive paperless bills.
"We really appreciate our paperless billing customers helping us do
business with them in a more sustainable, efficient way," said Von Summers,
community relations manager. "In return, we're asking them to decide how to
divide $25,000 among four local environmental nonprofit organizations."
"Over the last three years, NW Natural has donated $60,000 to local
environmental charities on behalf of our paperless customers," said
Summers. "So it's perfect timing to have exceeded 60,000 customers on
paperless."
Cast your ballots
As a thank you for going paperless, NW Natural is offering its customers
the chance to help divvy up $25,000.
Each current or new paperless billing customer can vote at
www.nwnatural.com until April 30 for one of four environmental nonprofit
organizations to receive a portion of $25,000. The participating
organizations are Friends of Trees, Oregon Water Trust, Friends of the
Columbia Gorge, and the Oregon State Parks Trust. Each nonprofit will
receive a portion of the $25,000 based on the percentage of votes cast by
customers.
"Friends of Trees is very pleased to be a part of this paperless billing
campaign and grateful to have the opportunity to receive a contribution
from NW Natural as part of the promotion," said Friends of Trees
Development Director, David Manhart. "The donation from this effort will be
used to help train and organize hundreds of new tree planting volunteers
and to purchase materials during the 2008-2009 season."
Customers can see the percentage of total votes their favorite charity is
receiving by logging in at
www.nwnatural.com. The results will be announced
on
www.nwnatural.com in May.
Small changes make a difference
Customers selecting paperless billing can make a big impact. If every NW
Natural customer signed up for paperless billing:
-- 366,000 pounds of paper from bills and envelopes could be saved
-- 73,000 therms of energy could be saved from the paper-making process
-- 1.5 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions could be avoided from
the paper-making process -- the equivalent of taking 1,600 cars off the
road
Contact Information: Contact:
Jenna Cooper-Gross
503.721.2440
Steve Sechrist
503.220.2594