CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This prospectus supplement, the accompanying prospectus and the documents we incorporate by reference herein and therein contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the “Reform Act”). All statements other than statements of historical fact included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company’s plans, objectives, goals, intentions, projections, strategies, future events or performance, negotiations, and underlying assumptions. The words “may,” “if,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “continue,” “forecast,” “intend,” “promote,” “seek,” and similar words and expressions are generally used and intended to identify forward-looking statements.
For example, statements regarding operating margin patterns, customer growth, the composition of our customer base, price volatility, seasonal patterns, payment of debt, replacement market and new construction market, impacts from the novel coronavirus(COVID-19), including on our employees, customers, supply chain, transportation network, our financial position, revenue, earnings, cash flows, debt covenants, operations, regulatory recovery, work deployment or resumption and related uncertainties stemming from this pandemic, the impacts of the U.S. tax reform including disposition in regulatory proceedings, the impact of recent Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration rulemaking, the amounts and timing for completion of estimated future construction expenditures, plans to pursue infrastructure programs or programs under SB151 legislation, forecasted operating cash flows and results of operations, net earnings impacts from gas infrastructure replacement surcharges, funding sources of cash requirements, amounts generally expected to be reflected in 2020 or future period revenues from regulatory rate proceedings including amounts requested from the recently filed and ongoing general rate cases, the outcome of judicial review of the recently concluded Nevada rate case, rates and surcharges, purchase gas adjustment (“PGA”), and other rate adjustments, sufficiency of working capital and the current credit facility, bank lending practices, the Company’s views regarding its liquidity position, ability to raise funds and receive external financing capacity, ability and decisions of our parent to raise funds and contribute capital to us, pension and postretirement benefits, certain impacts of tax acts, the effect of any rate changes or regulatory proceedings, impacts of accounting standard updates, infrastructure replacement mechanisms and Customer-Owned Yard Line programs, statements regarding future gas prices, gas purchase contracts and derivative financial instruments, recoverability of regulatory assets, the impact of certain legal proceedings, and the timing and results of future rate hearings, including the ongoing general rate cases and the final resolution for recovery of the Customer Data Modernization Initiative in all jurisdictions, and statements regarding approvals are forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are intended to be subject to the safe harbor protection provided by the Reform Act.
A number of important factors affecting the business and financial results of the Company could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, customer growth rates, conditions in the housing market, the impacts ofCOVID-19 including that which may result from a sustained restriction on commerce by government officials, including impacts on employment in our territories, the health impacts to our customers and employees due to the persistence of the virus, the ability to collect on customer accounts due to the current or an extended moratorium on late fees or service disconnection, the ability to obtain regulatory recovery of all costs and financial impacts resulting from this pandemic, the impacts of future restrictions placed on our business by government regulation including related to personnel distancing, investment in personal protective equipment and other protocols, the impact of a resurgence of the virus following the resumption of commerce in our territories, the ability to recover costs through the PGA mechanisms or other regulatory assets, the effects of regulation/deregulation, governmental or regulatory policy regarding natural gas or alternative energy, the regulatory support for ongoing infrastructure programs, the timing and amount of rate relief, the timing and methods determined by regulators to refund amounts to customers resulting from U.S. tax reform, changes in rate design, variability in volume of gas or transportation service sold to customers, changes in gas procurement practices, changes in capital requirements and funding, the impact of conditions in the capital markets on financing costs, the impact of variable rate
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