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PRESS RELEASE

                  PIEDMONT REPORTS SOUTHSTAR REVENUE ADJUSTMENT

CHARLOTTE, N.C., August 27, 2001. On Friday, August 24, 2001, Piedmont Natural
Gas Company (NYSE:PNY) reported unaudited net income and diluted earnings per
share for the three, nine, and twelve months ended July 31, 2001. The reported
earnings included earnings attributable to Piedmont's 30% interest in SouthStar
Energy Services, LLC., a natural gas marketer operating in Georgia under the
trade name Georgia Natural Gas Services.

At a meeting of SouthStar's Executive Committee attended by Piedmont
representatives this morning, SouthStar's management reported that SouthStar's
audited revenues and net income as reported to Piedmont for SouthStar's 1998,
1999, and 2000 fiscal years and its unaudited revenues and net income for
SouthStar's seven month period ended July 31, 2001 were overstated. According to
SouthStar's management, the overstatement was due to the manner by which
SouthStar estimated its unbilled revenues for the various reporting periods.
Based on information presently available to Piedmont, it appears that the
revision in SouthStar's net income since SouthStar's inception in July 1998 will
reduce Piedmont's earnings by $.15 per share if the entire adjustment is taken
in fiscal 2001.

Based on information currently available to Piedmont, it appears that
approximately one-third of the adjustment relates to periods prior to Piedmont's
current fiscal year. SouthStar's management is working with its independent
auditors to further refine the exact amount of the overstatement of SouthStar's
revenues and net income and the accounting periods to which it applies. Once
Piedmont has received a final report, Piedmont will provide further guidance.

The overstatement of revenues and net income by SouthStar is unrelated to the
ongoing lawsuit in which Georgia Natural Gas Company, a wholly owned subsidiary
of AGL Resources, Inc. and the owner of a 50% interest in SouthStar, has brought
an action, purportedly on behalf of SouthStar, against Dynegy Marketing and
Trade, the owner of a 20% interest in SouthStar.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks
and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those that are discussed in
SEC reports filed by Piedmont Natural Gas. The statements contained in this news
release are based on Piedmont's current estimates, and actual results may differ
materially. More information about the risks and uncertainties relating to these
forward-looking statements may be found in Piedmont's SEC filings, which are
available free of charge on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.


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Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy and services company primarily engaged in the
transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas to over 700,000
residential, commercial and industrial customers in North Carolina, South
Carolina and Tennessee. The Charlotte-based company is the second-largest
natural gas utility in the Southeast. An unregulated subsidiary of the Company
is an equity participant in a venture that markets natural gas to an additional
570,000 customers in Georgia, the first state in the venture's eight-state
region to deregulate retail natural gas service. Another unregulated subsidiary
is an equity participant in Heritage Propane Partners, L.P., the nation's
fourth-largest propane distributor serving more than 500,000 customers in
twenty-eight states.


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