Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Joanne Fairechio.
Joanne Fairechio - Janney Montgomery Scott
Good afternoon. You had indicated previously that you might need to file a rate case. Is there anything new in that thought? And are there any updates or changes to the CIP now that you’ve gone through a full year of operating under the new mechanism?
Glenn C. Lockwood
On the rate case, the situation is the same as we previously disclosed. We do currently expect to file a rate case in fiscal 2008 but we would now expect any impact of a rate case in fiscal 2008 just based on the timelines that such a filing would take.
Joanne Fairechio - Janney Montgomery Scott
Okay.
Glenn C. Lockwood
And on the CIP, Mark Sperduto is here.
Mark R. Sperduto
On the CIP, we filed June 1st and as Glenn indicated, we received provisional rates on October 3rd. There are no changes that have been proposed to the program by the company or from the intervening parties, which would be the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities staff and the public advocates division of rate council at this time.
Those hearings are still, or that process is still open and it hasn’t been finalized but we would expect within the next three months that that would be finalized.
Joanne Fairechio - Janney Montgomery Scott
Have you gotten any feedback from customers, or they don’t really realize what goes on in the regulatory area anyway?
Mark R. Sperduto
Well, generally the feedback on the conservation incentive program has been very favorable. We’ve run several different types of programs with enhanced rebates for high efficiency equipment, as well as providing new communication vehicles for customers to understand their gas bill and to take appropriate action.
In fact, some of the new programs will be coming out soon, which will enable people to assess their usage almost on a real-time basis so they could see how much is reflective of weather conditions and/or other factors in their home life of in their business.
Joanne Fairechio - Janney Montgomery Scott
Okay, and I just wanted to ask you also, conversions rose up to about 39% or so of your total customer additions last year. Do you see that jumping up more in ’08 now that residential housing has slowed?
Mark R. Sperduto
In the [add plan] for next year, which we overall have at 1.8%, we see about a 35% mix of conversions to new construction.
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