(RTTNews) - Natural gas and electricity provider Dominion Resources, Inc. (D: News ) is scheduled to announce its third-quarter results before the market opens on Friday. The company forecasts third-quarter operating earnings in the range of $0.88-$0.93 per share, compared with $0.94 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Dominion serves retail energy customers in 12 states with a portfolio of more than 27,500 megawatts of generation, 1.2 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas and oil reserves, 14,000 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline and 6,000 miles of electric transmission lines. The company also operates the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with 975 billion cubic feet of storage capacity.

Although the utility sector is protected from consumer sentiments amid severe economic downturn, weak demand and the slowdown in residential and commercial real estate growth have impacted the utility companies' profits. The economic crisis has forced people to be more prudent in their electricity usage. Weather also plays a key role in electricity usage, as cooler weather translates to less use of electricity.

According to the Energy Information Administration, total U.S. electricity consumption fell 1.6% in 2008 and is estimated to decline by 3.3% in 2009, and then grow by 1.3% in 2010 as the improving economy leads to slowly recovering industrial sector electricity sales.

On average, 10 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect Dominion to earn $0.90 per share for the quarter on revenues of $3.94 billion. This compares with the company's last-year quarter earnings of $0.94 per share on revenues of $4.23 billion.
While announcing the second-quarter results on July 31, Dominion said that higher contributions from the regulated electric utility and gas transmission businesses and a lower effective income tax rate would favor its third-quarter results. These are expected to be offset by lower contributions from producer services, milder weather for July, higher interest expense and lower volumes from the company's remaining E&P operations due to the expiration of overriding royalty interests associated with former volumetric production payment agreements.

The company expects operating earnings of $3.20-$3.30 per share for fiscal 2009. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $3.23 per share for the year.

For the second quarter, the company has reported a 52% surge in profit, helped by higher margins at its merchant-power business and higher contributions from gas transmission operations. The Richmond, Virginia-based company's reported earnings rose to $454 million, or $0.76 per share, from $298 million, or $0.51 per share, in the year-ago period. Operating revenues rose 1.47% to $3.45 billion from $3.40 billion in the previous-year quarter.

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