Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Jonathan Arnold of Merrill Lynch.
Jonathan Arnold - Merrill Lynch
I had a couple of question, the first one on the pension filings, the deferral filings you made in Ohio and Kentucky. If I remember in the operating earnings quarter four for the year, pension expense was about $0.24 negative. Can you give us some sort of indication of how much of that might be mitigated if you were to get these deferrals in those two states?
Bob Skaggs
Yes. We can give you a sense if again the commissions would act favorably on those filings. The Kentucky positive impact would be $1 million or so. Again we are asking deferral from the beginning of the year until new rates go into effect and again you're aware that Columbia and Kentucky just is in the process of filing a rate case later today. For Columbia gas of Ohio again they've filed for a deferral retroactive back to the first of the year and in terms of pretax positive impact if the commission acted favorably and without modification, it would be about $15 million again pretax in 2009.
Jonathan Arnold - Merrill Lynch
That's the 2009 impact of a full year of the difference between what's in rates and what you are currently incurring.
Bob Skaggs
That's correct.
Jonathan Arnold - Merrill Lynch
What is the precedent like in the States is there anything like that?
Bob Skaggs
This would be ploughing new ground.
Jonathan Arnold - Merrill Lynch
Okay. One other question I had, you had $0.12 of negative interest expense for the year. It's kind of flat in the first quarter and I'm guessing that's partly because you have a bigger short-term debt balance in Q1, and rates on that were down. Given the financing you managed to achieve and the outcome of the tender offer is that $0.12 still a good estimate for the year or could that be a little on the conservative side?
Bob Skaggs
I would characterize that we are on budget. Interest expense for the year, Steve would you like to provide any additional color?
Steve Smith
Yes. I would totally agree with that, Bob. I think we should be able to manage interest expense within the confines of the guidance that we gave at the end of the year with respect to the dollar to $1.10. So we are currently anticipating that we will stay within that range.
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