Atmos Energy - 10-K annual report

      Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.     Yes þ          No o

      Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.     o

      Indicate by check whether the recipient is an accelerated filer (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2).     Yes þ          No o

      Indicate by check whether the recipient is a shell company (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 12b-2).     Yes o          No þ

      The aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, March 31, 2005, was $2,085,825,303.

      As of November 11, 2005, the registrant had 80,613,517 shares of common stock outstanding.

      Portions of the registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement to be filed for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders on February 8, 2006 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this report.

      The terms “we,” “our,” “us,” “Atmos” and “Atmos Energy” refer to Atmos Energy Corporation and its subsidiaries, unless the context suggests otherwise.

      Atmos Energy Corporation, (AEC), headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is engaged primarily in the natural gas utility business as well as other natural gas nonutility businesses. We are one of the country’s largest natural-gas-only distributors based on number of customers and one of the largest intrastate pipeline operators in Texas based upon miles of pipe. As of September 30, 2005 we distributed natural gas through sales and transportation arrangements to approximately 3.2 million residential, commercial, public authority and industrial customers through our seven regulated utility divisions, which covered service areas in 12 states. Our primary service areas are located in Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas. We have more limited service areas in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Virginia. In addition, we transport natural gas for others through our distribution system.

      Through our nonutility businesses, we primarily provide natural gas management and marketing services to municipalities, other local gas distribution companies and industrial customers in 22 states and natural gas transportation and storage services to certain of our utility divisions and to third parties.

      Our operations are divided into four segments:

      Our overall strategy is to:

      Over the last five years, we have grown through several acquisitions, including our acquisition in April 2001 of the remaining 55 percent interest in Woodward Marketing, L.L.C. that we did not already own, our acquisition in July 2001 of the assets of Louisiana Gas Service Company, our acquisition in December 2002 of Mississippi Valley Gas Company (MVG) and our acquisition on October 1, 2004 of the natural gas distribution and pipeline operations of TXU Gas Company (TXU Gas).

      The TXU Gas operations we acquired are regulated businesses engaged in the purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of natural gas in the north-central, eastern and western parts of Texas. Through these newly acquired operations, we provide gas distribution services to approximately 1.5 million residential and business customers in Texas, including the Dallas/ Fort Worth metropolitan area. We also now own and operate a system consisting of 6,162 miles of gas transmission and gathering lines and five underground storage reservoirs, all within Texas.

      The purchase price for the TXU Gas acquisition was approximately $1.9 billion (after closing adjustments and before transaction costs and expenses), which we paid in cash. We acquired approximately $112 million of working capital and did not assume any indebtedness of TXU Gas in connection with the acquisition. TXU Gas retained certain assets, provided for the repayment of all of its indebtedness and redeemed all of its preferred stock prior to closing and retained and agreed to pay certain other liabilities under the terms of the acquisition agreement.

      We funded the purchase price for the TXU Gas acquisition with approximately $235.7 million in net proceeds from our offering of approximately 9.9 million shares of common stock, which we completed on July 19, 2004, and approximately $1.7 billion in net proceeds from our issuance on October 1, 2004 of commercial paper backstopped by a senior unsecured revolving credit agreement, which we entered into on September 24, 2004 for bridge financing for the TXU Gas acquisition. In October 2004, we repaid the commercial paper used to fund the acquisition through the issuance of senior unsecured notes on October 22, 2004 which generated net proceeds of approximately $1.39 billion and the sale of 16.1 million shares of common stock on October 27, 2004, which generated net proceeds of approximately $382.5 million before other offering costs.

      We have experienced over 20 consecutive years of increasing dividends and earnings growth after giving effect to our acquisitions. We have achieved this record of growth while operating our utility operations efficiently by managing our operating and maintenance expenses, leveraging our technology, such as our 24-hour call centers, to achieve more efficient operations, focusing on regulatory rate proceedings to increase revenue as our costs increase and mitigating weather-related risks through weather-normalized rates in many of our service areas. Additionally, we have strengthened our nonutility business by increasing gross profit margins, actively pursuing opportunities to increase the amount of storage available to us and expanding commercial opportunities on our intrastate Texas pipeline.

      Our core values include focusing on our employees and customers while conducting our business with honesty and integrity. We continue to strengthen our culture through ongoing communications with our employees and enhanced employee training.

      We operate our utility segment through the following seven regulated natural gas utility divisions:

      Our natural gas utility distribution business is seasonal and dependent on weather conditions in our service areas. Gas sales to residential and commercial customers are greater during the winter months than during the remainder of the year. The volumes of gas sales during the winter months will vary with the temperatures during these months. The seasonal nature of our sales to residential and commercial customers is partially offset by our sales in the spring and summer months to our agricultural customers in Texas, Colorado and Kansas who use natural gas to operate irrigation equipment.

      In addition to weather, our financial results are affected by the cost of natural gas and economic conditions in the areas that we serve. Higher gas costs, which we are generally able to pass through to our customers under purchased gas adjustment clauses, may cause customers to conserve, or, in the case of

industrial customers, to use alternative energy sources. Higher gas costs may also adversely impact our accounts receivable collections, resulting in higher bad debt expense and may require us to increase borrowings under our credit facilities resulting in higher interest expense.

      The effect of weather that is above or below normal is partially offset through weather normalization adjustments, or WNA, as approved by the regulators in certain of our service areas. WNA allows us to increase customers’ bills to offset lower gas usage when weather is warmer than normal and decrease customers’ bills to offset higher gas usage when weather is colder than normal. As of September 30, 2005 we had WNA in the following service areas for the following periods, which covered approximately 1.0 million of our meters in service:

      Our Mid-Tex Division does not have WNA. However, their operations benefit from a rate structure that combines a monthly customer charge with a declining block rate schedule to partially mitigate the impact of warmer-than-normal weather on revenue. The combination of the monthly customer charge and the customer billing under the first block of the declining block rate schedule provides for the recovery of most of our fixed costs for such operations under most weather conditions. However, this rate structure is not as beneficial during periods where weather is significantly warmer than normal.

      Our natural gas supply comes from a variety of third party providers and from gas held in storage. We anticipate that the natural gas supply for the upcoming winter heating season will be provided by a variety of suppliers, including independent producers, marketers and pipeline companies, in addition to withdrawals of gas from storage. Additionally, the natural gas supply for our Mid-Tex Division includes peaking and spot purchase agreements. We also contract for storage service in underground storage facilities on many of the interstate pipelines serving us. We estimate the peak-day availability of natural gas supply from long-term contracts, short-term contracts and withdrawals from underground storage to be approximately 4.2 Bcf. The peak-day demand for our utility operations in fiscal 2005 was on December 23, 2004, when sales to customers reached approximately 3.5 Bcf.

      Supply arrangements are contracted from our suppliers on a firm basis with various terms at market prices. The firm supply consists of both base load and swing supply quantities. Base load quantities are those that flow at a constant level throughout the month and swing supply quantities provide the flexibility to change daily quantities to match increases or decreases in requirements related to weather conditions. Except for local production purchases, we select suppliers through a competitive bidding process by requesting proposals from suppliers that have demonstrated that they can provide reliable service. We select these suppliers based on their ability to deliver gas supply to our designated firm pipeline receipt points at the lowest cost. Major suppliers during fiscal 2005 were Anadarko Energy Services, BP Energy Company, Chevron Corporation, ConocoPhillips Company, Cross Timbers Energy Services, Inc., Devon Gas Services, L.P., Enbridge Marketing (US) L.P., Oneok Energy Services Company, L.P., Tenaska Marketing and Atmos Energy Marketing, LLC, our natural gas marketing subsidiary.

      The combination of base load, peaking and spot purchase agreements, coupled with the withdrawal of gas held in storage, allows us the flexibility to adjust to changes in weather, which minimizes our need to enter into firm commitments.

      Also, to maintain our deliveries to high priority customers, we have the ability, and have exercised our right, to curtail deliveries to certain customers under the terms of interruptible contracts, applicable state statutes or regulations. Our customers’ demand on our system is not necessarily indicative of our ability to meet current or anticipated market demands or immediate delivery requirements because of factors such as the physical limitations of gathering, storage and transmission systems, the duration and severity of cold weather, the availability of gas reserves from our suppliers, the ability to purchase additional supplies on a short-term basis and actions by federal and state regulatory authorities. Curtailment rights provide us the flexibility to meet the human-needs requirements of our customers on a firm basis. Priority allocations imposed by federal and state regulatory agencies, as well as other factors beyond our control, may affect our ability to meet the demands of our customers. We anticipate no problems with obtaining additional gas supply as needed for our customers.

      We receive gas deliveries for all of our utility divisions, except for our Mid-Tex Division, through 37 pipeline transportation companies, both interstate and intrastate, to satisfy our natural gas needs. The pipeline transportation agreements are firm and many of them have “pipeline no-notice” storage service which provides for daily balancing between system requirements and nominated flowing supplies. These agreements have been negotiated with the shortest term necessary while still maintaining our right of first refusal. The natural gas supply for our Mid-Tex Division is delivered by our Atmos Pipeline — Texas Division, which was formed from the natural gas transmission and storage operations that we acquired in the TXU Gas acquisition.

      The following is a brief description of our seven natural gas utility divisions. Additional information for our natural gas utility divisions is presented under the caption “Operating Statistics”.

     Atmos Energy Colorado-Kansas Division. Our Colorado-Kansas Division operates in Colorado, Kansas and the southwestern corner of Missouri and is regulated by each respective state’s public service commission with respect to accounting, rates and charges, operating matters and the issuance of securities. We operate under terms of non-exclusive franchises granted by the various cities. Rates in our Kansas service area are subject to WNA. The principal transporters of the Colorado-Kansas Division’s gas supply requirements are Colorado Interstate Gas Company, Northwest Pipeline, Public Service Company of Colorado and Southern Star Central Pipeline. Additionally, the Colorado-Kansas Division purchases substantial volumes from producers that are connected directly to its distribution system.

     Atmos Energy Kentucky Division. Our Kentucky Division operates in Kentucky and is regulated by the Kentucky Public Service Commission, which regulates utility services, rates, issuance of securities and other matters. We operate in various incorporated cities pursuant to non-exclusive franchises granted by these cities. The sale of natural gas for use as vehicle fuel in Kentucky is unregulated. We will operate under a performance-based rate program through March 2006. Under the performance-based program, we and our customers jointly share in any actual gas cost savings achieved when compared to pre-determined benchmarks. Our rates are also subject to WNA. The Kentucky Division’s gas supply is delivered primarily by Midwestern Pipeline, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, Texas Gas Transmission LLC and Trunkline Gas Company.

     Atmos Energy Louisiana Division. Our Louisiana Division operates in Louisiana and includes the operations of the Louisiana Gas Service Company assets acquired in July 2001, which serves the metropolitan area of Monroe and the suburban areas of New Orleans, and our previously existing Trans La Division, which serves western Louisiana. Our Louisiana Division is regulated by the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC), which regulates utility services, rates and other matters. We operate most of our service areas pursuant to a non-exclusive franchise granted by the governing authority of each area. Direct sales of natural gas to industrial customers in Louisiana, who use gas for fuel or in manufacturing processes, and sales of natural gas for vehicle fuel are exempt from regulation and are recognized in our natural gas marketing segment. The principal transporters of the Louisiana Division’s gas supply requirements are Acadian Pipeline,

Gulf South, Louisiana Intrastate Gas Company, Texas Gas Transmission LLC and Trans Louisiana Gas Pipeline, Inc., a subsidiary of Atmos Pipeline and Storage, LLC.

     Atmos Energy Mid-States Division. Our Mid-States Division operates in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia. In each of these states, our rates, services and operations as a natural gas distribution company are subject to general regulation by each state’s public service commission. We operate in each community, where necessary, under a franchise granted by the municipality for a fixed term of years. In Tennessee and Georgia, we have WNA and a performance-based rate program, which provides incentives for us to find ways to lower costs and share the cost savings with our customers. Beginning in July 2005, we have WNA in Virginia that will cover the entire year. Our Mid-States Division is served by 13 interstate pipelines; however, the majority of the volumes are transported through Columbia Gulf, East Tennessee Pipeline, Southern Natural Gas and Tennessee Gas Pipeline.

     Atmos Energy Mid-Tex Division. Our Mid-Tex Division, which represents the distribution assets and operations that we acquired from TXU Gas on October 1, 2004, includes natural gas distribution operations that operate in the north-central, eastern and western parts of Texas. The Mid-Tex Division purchases, distributes and sells natural gas to approximately 1.5 million residential and business customers in approximately 550 cities and towns, including the 11-county Dallas/ Fort Worth metropolitan area. Under a May 2004 rate filing, this division operates under a system-wide rate structure along with the pipeline operations we acquired in the acquisition. The governing body of each municipality we serve has original jurisdiction over all utility rates, operations and services within its city limits, except with respect to sales of natural gas for vehicle fuel and agricultural use. We operate pursuant to non-exclusive franchises granted by the municipalities we serve, which are subject to renewal from time to time. The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over all rate and regulatory orders and ordinances of the municipalities and exclusive original jurisdiction over rates and services to customers not located within the limits of a municipality. This division does not have WNA. However, our operations benefit from a declining block rate structure that partially mitigates the impact of warmer-than-normal weather on revenue. This rate structure is not as beneficial during periods where weather is significantly warmer than normal. The majority of this division’s residential and business customers use natural gas for heating, and their needs are directly affected by the mildness or severity of the heating season.

      At closing of the acquisition, TXU Gas and some of its affiliates entered into transitional services agreements with us to provide call center, meter reading, customer billing, collections, information reporting, software, accounting, treasury, administrative and other services to the Mid-Tex Division. Some of these services were outsourced by TXU Gas to Capgemini Energy L.P. However, on November 4, 2004, we entered into an agreement with Capgemini Energy L.P. whereby we took over the operations of the Waco, Texas call center on April 1, 2005 and purchased from Capgemini Energy L.P. all of the related call center assets on October 1, 2005. The remaining transitional services agreements expired on September 30, 2005 and were not renewed as we have in-sourced all of these functions, effective October 1, 2005.

     Atmos Energy Mississippi Division. Our Atmos Energy Mississippi Division (formerly known as Mississippi Valley Gas Company Division), which was acquired in December 2002, operates in Mississippi and is regulated by the Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) with respect to rates, services and operations. We operate under non-exclusive franchises granted by the municipalities we serve. Since the acquisition, we have been operating under a rate structure that allows us, over a five-year period, to recover a portion of our integration costs associated with the acquisition and operations and maintenance costs in excess of an agreed-upon benchmark. In addition, we were required to file for rate adjustments based on our expenses every six months. Effective October 1, 2005, our rate design was modified to substitute the original agreed-upon benchmark with a sharing mechanism to allow the sharing of cost savings above an allowed return on equity level. Further, we will move from a semi-annual filing process to an annual filing process. We also have WNA in Mississippi. This division’s gas supply is delivered by Gulf South Pipeline Company, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, Southern Natural Gas Company, Texas Eastern Transmission, Texas Gas Transmission LLC, Trunkline Gas Co. LLC and Enbridge Marketing LP.

     Atmos Energy West Texas Division. Our West Texas Division operates in Texas in three primary service areas: the Amarillo service area, the Lubbock service area and the West Texas service area. Similar to our Mid-Tex Division, the governing body of each municipality we serve has original jurisdiction over all utility rates, operations and services within its city limits, except with respect to sales of natural gas for vehicle fuel and agricultural use. We operate pursuant to non-exclusive franchises granted by the municipalities we serve, which are subject to renewal from time to time. The RRC has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over all rate and regulatory orders and ordinances of the municipalities and exclusive original jurisdiction over rates and services to customers not located within the limits of a municipality. During 2004, the West Texas Division received approval from the City of Lubbock, Texas and the 66 cities in our West Texas system, for WNA in these service areas, which is effective October through May of each year, beginning with the 2004-2005 winter heating season. We also have WNA in our Amarillo service area. Our West Texas Division receives transportation service from ONEOK Pipeline. In addition, the West Texas Division purchases a significant portion of its natural gas supply from Pioneer Natural Resources, which is connected directly to our Amarillo, Texas, distribution system.

      Our natural gas marketing and other nonutility segments, which are organized under Atmos Energy Holdings, Inc. (AEH), have operations in 22 states. Through September 30, 2003, Atmos Energy Marketing, LLC, together with its wholly-owned subsidiaries Woodward Marketing, L.L.C. and Trans Louisiana Industrial Gas Company, Inc., comprised our natural gas marketing segment. Effective October 1, 2003, our natural gas marketing segment was reorganized. The operations of Atmos Energy Marketing, L.L.C. and Trans Louisiana Industrial Gas Company, Inc. were merged into Woodward Marketing, L.L.C., which was renamed Atmos Energy Marketing, LLC (AEM).

      We acquired a 45 percent interest in Woodward Marketing, L.L.C. in July 1997 as a result of the merger of Atmos and United Cities Gas Company, which had acquired that interest in May 1995. In April 2001, we acquired the remaining 55 percent interest that we did not own for 1,423,193 restricted shares of our common stock.

      AEM provides a variety of natural gas management services to municipalities, natural gas utility systems and industrial natural gas consumers primarily in the southeastern and midwestern states and to our Kentucky, Louisiana and Mid-States divisions. These services primarily consist of furnishing natural gas supplies at fixed and market-based prices, contract negotiation and administration, load forecasting, gas storage acquisition and management services, transportation services, peaking sales and balancing services, capacity utilization strategies and gas price management through the use of derivative products. We use proprietary and customer-owned transportation and storage assets to provide the various services our customers request. As a result, our revenues arise from the types of commercial transactions we have structured with our customers and include the value we extract by optimizing the storage and transportation capacity we own or control as well as revenues for services we deliver.

      We participate in transactions in which we combine the natural gas commodity and transportation costs to minimize our costs incurred to serve our customers. Additionally, we participate in natural gas storage transactions in which we seek to capture the pricing differences that occur over time. We purchase or sell physical natural gas and then sell or purchase financial contracts at a price sufficient to cover our carrying costs and provide a gross profit margin. Through the use of transportation and storage services and derivatives, we are able to capture gross profit margin through the arbitrage of pricing differences in various locations and by recognizing pricing differences that occur over time.

      AEM’s management of natural gas requirements involves the sale of natural gas and the management of storage and transportation supplies under contracts with customers generally having one to two year terms. AEM also sells natural gas to some of its industrial customers on a delivered burner tip basis under contract terms from 30 days to two years. At September 30, 2005, AEM had a total of 558 industrial, 69 municipal and 210 other customers.

      Our pipeline and storage segment consists of the regulated pipeline and storage operations of the Atmos Pipeline — Texas Division and the nonregulated pipeline and storage operations of Atmos Pipeline and Storage, LLC. The natural gas transmission and storage operations that we acquired in the TXU Gas acquisition, which are operated in the Atmos Pipeline — Texas Division, represent one of the largest intrastate pipeline operations in Texas. The Atmos Pipeline — Texas Division transports natural gas to our Mid-Tex Division and for third parties. These operations include interconnected natural gas transmission lines, five underground storage reservoirs (including a salt dome facility) and 24 compressor stations and related properties, all within Texas. These operations may create additional gas marketing and other opportunities for our non-regulated subsidiaries.

      The gas distribution and transmission lines we acquired have been constructed over lands of others pursuant to easements or along public highways, streets and rights-of-way as permitted by law. In addition to being heavily concentrated in the established natural gas-producing areas of central, northern and eastern Texas, the intrastate pipeline system we acquired also extends into or near the major producing areas of the Texas Gulf Coast and the Delaware and Val Verde Basins of West Texas. Nine basins located in Texas are estimated to contain a substantial portion of the nation’s remaining onshore natural gas reserves. This pipeline system provides access to all of these basins. We believe that we are well situated to receive large volumes into this pipeline system at the major hubs, such as Katy, Waha and Carthage as well as from storage facilities where we maintain high delivery capabilities.

      APS owns or has an interest in underground storage fields in Kentucky and Louisiana. We also use these storage facilities to reduce the need to contract for additional pipeline capacity to meet customer demand during peak periods.

      Our other nonutility segment consists primarily of the operations of Atmos Energy Services, LLC (AES), and Atmos Power Systems, Inc. which are wholly-owned by our subsidiary, Atmos Energy Holdings, Inc. Through AES, we provide natural gas management services to our utility operations, other than the Mid-Tex Division. These services, which began on April 1, 2004, include aggregating and purchasing gas supply, arranging transportation and storage logistics and ultimately delivering the gas to our utility service areas at competitive prices in exchange for revenues that are equal to the costs incurred to provide those services. Through Atmos Power Systems, Inc., we construct gas-fired electric peaking power-generating plants and associated facilities and may enter into agreements to either lease or sell these plants.

      Through January 20, 2004, United Cities Propane Gas, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atmos Energy Holdings, Inc., owned an approximate 19 percent membership interest in U.S. Propane L.P. (USP), a joint venture formed in February 2000 with other utility companies to own a limited partnership interest in Heritage Propane Partners, L.P. (Heritage), a publicly-traded marketer of propane through a nationwide retail distribution network. During fiscal 2004, we sold our interest in USP and Heritage. As a result of these transactions, we no longer have an interest in the propane business.

See footnotes following these tables.

See footnotes following these tables.

See footnotes following these tables.

      The method of determining regulated rates varies among the states in which our natural gas utility divisions operate. The regulators have the responsibility of ensuring that utilities under their jurisdictions operate in the best interests of customers while providing utility companies the opportunity to earn a reasonable return on investment. Generally, each regulatory authority reviews our rate request and establishes a rate structure intended to generate revenue sufficient to cover our costs of doing business and provide a reasonable return on invested capital.

      Rates established by regulatory authorities are adjusted for increases and decreases in our purchased gas cost through purchased gas adjustment mechanisms. Purchased gas adjustment mechanisms provide gas utility companies a method of recovering purchased gas costs on an ongoing basis without filing a rate case to address all of the utility’s non-gas costs. These mechanisms are commonly utilized when regulatory authorities recognize a particular type of expense, such as purchased gas costs, that (i) is subject to significant price fluctuations compared to the utility’s other costs, (ii) represents a large component of the utility’s cost of service and (iii) is generally outside the control of the gas utility. There is no gross profit generated through purchased gas adjustments, but they do provide a dollar-for-dollar offset to increases or decreases in utility gas costs. Although substantially all of our utility sales to our customers fluctuate with the cost of gas that we purchase, utility gross profit (which is defined as operating revenues less purchased gas cost) is generally not affected by fluctuations in the cost of gas due to the purchased gas adjustment mechanism. Additionally, certain jurisdictions have introduced performance-based ratemaking adjustments to provide incentives to natural gas utilities to minimize purchased gas costs through improved storage management and use of financial hedges to lock in gas costs. Under the performance-based ratemaking adjustment, purchased gas costs savings are shared between the utility and its customers.

      The following table summarizes certain information regarding our ratemaking jurisdictions.

See footnotes on the following page.

      Our current rate strategy focuses on addressing rate design and regulatory lag issues. We are seeking rate designs that decouple the recovery of our approved margins from customer usage patterns due to weather related variability, declining use per customer and energy conservation. Additionally, we are seeking to stratify rates for low income households and to recover the gas cost portion of our bad debt expense.

      We are attempting to address regulatory lag issues by directing discretionary capital spending to jurisdictions that permit us to recover our investment in a more timely manner, working with our regulators to eliminate regulatory lag in our jurisdictions and filing rate cases on a more frequent basis to minimize the regulatory lag to keep our actual returns more closely aligned with our allowed returns.

      Approximately 97 percent of our utility revenues in the fiscal years ended September 30, 2005, 2004 and 2003 were derived from sales at rates set by or subject to approval by local or state authorities. Net annual

revenue increases resulting from ratemaking activity totaling $6.3 million, $16.2 million and $18.6 million became effective in fiscal 2005, 2004 and 2003 as summarized below:

      Additionally, the following ratemaking efforts were initiated during fiscal 2005 but had not been completed as of September 30, 2005:

      Our recent ratemaking activity is discussed in greater detail below.

     Atmos Pipeline-Texas. In December 2004, Atmos Pipeline — Texas made a GRIP filing to include in rate base approximately $12.0 million of pipeline capital expenditures made by TXU Gas during calendar year 2003, which should result in additional revenues of approximately $1.8 million. The RRC approved this filing in March 2005. These capital costs are being recovered through a monthly customer charge that began in April 2005. The allowed rate of return is 8.258 percent.

      In September, 2005, Atmos Pipeline — Texas made a GRIP filing to include in rate base approximately $10.6 million of pipeline capital expenditures incurred during calendar year 2004. It is anticipated that $1.9 million in additional annual revenue will be authorized through this filing. A decision on this filing must be made by the RRC before January 4, 2006.

     Atmos Energy Colorado-Kansas Division. In July 2004, the Colorado Public Utility Commission ordered us to issue a one-time credit to our Colorado customers of $1.9 million. The agreement was a result of an inquiry by the Colorado Office of Consumer Counsel related to our earnings in Colorado. The staff of the Colorado Public Utility Commission was also a party to the agreement.

      In May 2003, the Colorado-Kansas Division filed a rate case with the Kansas Corporation Commission for approximately $7.4 million in additional annual revenues. In January 2004, the Kansas Corporation Commission approved an agreement that allowed a $2.5 million increase in our rates effective March 1, 2004. Additionally, the agreement allowed us to increase our monthly customer charges from $5 to $8, provided that we would not file another full rate application prior to September 1, 2005. WNA became effective in Kansas in October 2003 in accordance with the Kansas Corporation Commission’s ruling in May 2003.

     Atmos Energy Louisiana Division. During the second quarter of 2005, the Louisiana Division implemented a rate increase of $3.3 million in its LGS service area. This increase resulted from our Rate Stabilization Clause filing in 2004 and is subject to refund, pending the final resolution of that filing. As the rate increase is subject to refund, we have not recognized the effects of this increase in our results of operations during fiscal 2005.

      During fiscal 2004, the Louisiana Public Service Commission approved tariff revisions for our LGS System totaling $0.2 million that became effective in October 2004.

      In October 2002, Atmos received written notification from the Executive Secretary of the LPSC asserting that a monthly facilities fee of approximately $0.6 million charged since July 2001 to Atmos by Trans Louisiana Gas Pipeline, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atmos, pursuant to a contract between the parties, was excessive. The Executive Secretary asserted that all monthly facilities fees in excess of approximately $0.1 million from July 2001 should be refunded to ratepayers with interest. On October 8, 2003, the LPSC unanimously voted to approve an agreement to allow us to charge a facilities fee of approximately $0.5 million per month (subject to future escalation) beginning November 1, 2003 for a period of 14 years. No retroactive adjustments were required under this agreement.

      In January and February 2002, our Louisiana Division submitted its 2001 Rate Stabilization filings to the LPSC for the two gas systems we operate in Louisiana. The LPSC audited the filings and found our earnings to be deficient and that rate adjustments were appropriate. Approved tariff revisions, which became effective November 1, 2002, resulted in $15.3 million in additional revenues per year for our LGS System and $0.5 million for our Trans La System during the first 24-month period beginning in November 2002. Subsequent to the first 24-month period, adjusted rates provided total annual revenue increases of $11.9 million for our LGS System and $0.4 million for our Trans La System. As a result of the actions taken by the LPSC, we have decreased the overall weather impact on our revenues in Louisiana, primarily through increases in the fixed portion of customers’ monthly bills.

      In 2001, in connection with its review of our acquisition of Louisiana Gas Service, the LPSC approved a rate structure that requires us to share with the customers of Louisiana Gas Service cost savings that result from the acquisition. The shared cost savings are the difference between operation and maintenance expense in any future year and the 1998 normalized expense for Louisiana Gas Service, indexed for inflation, annual

changes in labor costs and customer growth. Since January 1, 2002, customers have been assured they will receive annual savings, which will be indexed for inflation, annual changes in labor costs and customer growth. The sharing mechanism will remain in place for 20 years, subject to established modification procedures.

     Atmos Energy Mid-States Division. During the third quarter of 2005, the Mid-States Division filed a rate case in its Georgia service area seeking a rate increase of $4.0 million. We anticipate that the rate case will be finalized in November 2005.

      In February 2004, the Mid-States Division filed a rate case with the Virginia Corporation Commission (VCC) to request a $1.0 million increase in our base rates, WNA and recovery of the gas cost component of bad-debt expense. The VCC granted a rate increase in November 2004 of $0.4 million that was retroactively effective to July 27, 2004. Additionally, the VCC authorized WNA beginning in July 2005 and the ability to recover the gas cost component of bad debt expense.

      In November 2005, we received a notice from the Tennessee Regulatory Authority that it was opening an investigation into allegations that we are overcharging customers in parts of Tennessee by approximately $10.0 million per year. We do not believe that we are overcharging our customers and we intend to participate fully in the investigation.

     Atmos Energy Mid-Tex Division. In December 2004, the Mid-Tex Division made a GRIP filing to include in rate base approximately $32.0 million of distribution capital expenditures made by TXU Gas during calendar year 2003, which should result in additional revenues of approximately $6.7 million. These capital costs will be recovered through a monthly customer charge that began in October 2005.

      In September 2005, the Mid-Tex Division made a GRIP filing to include in rate base approximately $29.4 million of distribution capital costs incurred during calendar year 2004. It is anticipated that $6.7 million in additional annual revenue will be authorized through this filing. The cities in this division’s service area and the RRC must rule on this filing before January 4, 2006. If necessary, the RRC will rule on an appeal of any cities actions in the first quarter of calendar year 2006.

      On September 1, 2005, the Mid-Tex Division filed its annual gas cost reconciliation with the RRC. The filing involves approximately $14.0 million in refunds of amounts overcollected from customers between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2005. The Mid-Tex Division has proposed to the RRC the accelerating of refunds to December through March rather than during the usual refund period of October through June to help offset higher gas costs for residential, commercial and industrial customers during the 2005 — 2006 heating season, which proposal is still under consideration.

      In August 2005, we received a “show cause” order from the City of Dallas, which requires us to provide information that demonstrates good cause for showing that our existing distribution rates charged to customers in the city of Dallas should not be reduced. We are currently preparing our response to this order and anticipate filing it by the November 22, 2005 due date.

      In September 2004, the Mid-Tex Division filed its 36-Month Gas Contract Review with the RRC. This proceeding involves a prudency review of gas purchases totaling $2.2 billion made by the Mid-Tex Division from November 1, 2000 through October 31, 2003. A hearing on this matter was held before the RRC in late June. No decision is expected from the RRC until the end of December 2005 or January 2006.

      During the first quarter of fiscal 2005, the Mid-Tex Division pursued a filing initiated by TXU Gas seeking authorization of a surcharge to recover the rate case expenses incurred by the Mid-Tex Division, Atmos Pipeline — Texas Division and the intervening cities in connection with their last systemwide rate case completed in May 2004. The filing also covered the estimated expenses to prosecute the aforementioned recovery docket and the severed dockets from the systemwide rate case. On January 25, 2005, the RRC issued an order authorizing the recovery of the $10.2 million of expenses over a 3-year period with interest.

      The Mid-Tex Division is also pursuing an appeal to the Travis County District Court of the Final Order in its last systemwide rate case completed in May 2004 to obtain a return of and on its investment associated with the Poly I replacement pipe that was originally disallowed in its most recent rate case completed in May 2004. Additionally, the Mid-Tex Division is seeking the right to surcharge for gas cost underrecoveries. The

case has been assigned to a judge, but the briefing schedule has been postponed indefinitely to allow the parties to pursue settlement discussions.

     Atmos Energy Mississippi Division. Through the first quarter of fiscal 2005, the MPSC required that we file for rate adjustments every six months. Rate filings were made in May and November of each year and the rate adjustments typically became effective in the following July and January.

      During the second quarter of fiscal 2005, we agreed with the MPSC to suspend our May 2005 semi-annual filing to allow sufficient time for us and the MPSC to undertake a comprehensive review in an effort to improve our rate design and the ratemaking process. Effective October 1, 2005, our rate design was modified to substitute the original agreed-upon benchmark with a sharing mechanism to allow the sharing of cost savings above an allowed return on equity level. Further, we will move from a semi-annual filing process to an annual filing process. Additionally, our WNA period will begin on November 1 instead of November 15, and will end on April 30 instead of May 15. Also, we now have a fixed monthly customer base charge which makes a portion of our earnings less susceptible to usage. We will make our first annual filing under this new structure in September 2006.

      In October 2003, the MPSC issued a final order that denied our May 2003 request for a rate increase of $5.8 million. In January 2004, the MPSC authorized additional annual revenue of $5.9 million on our November 2003 filing, which became effective on December 1, 2003. In September 2004, the MPSC authorized additional annualized revenue of $4.7 million on our May 2004 filing, which became effective on June 1, 2004. However, the MPSC originally disallowed certain deferred costs totaling $2.8 million. In connection with the modification of our rate design described above, the MPSC reversed its decision regarding these costs, and we included these costs into our rates in October 2005.

      We filed our second semiannual filing for 2004 on November 5, 2004, requesting rate adjustments of $6.0 million in annualized revenue. The MPSC allowed us to include $3.0 million in annualized revenue in our rates effective January 1, 2005. In February 2005, we entered into an agreement with the Mississippi Public Utilities Staff that provides for an additional $1.3 million in annualized revenue that was retroactive to January 2005, which was approved by the MPSC during the second quarter of fiscal 2005.

     Atmos Energy West Texas Division. In September 2005, the West Texas Division made a GRIP filing to include in rate base approximately $22.6 million of distribution capital costs incurred during calendar year 2004 which should result in additional annual revenues of approximately $3.8 million. We expect these capital costs will be recovered through a monthly customer charge beginning in December 2005.

      In October 2003, our West Texas Division filed a rate case in Lubbock requesting a $3.0 million increase in annual revenues and WNA for our residential, commercial and public-authority customers. The City of Lubbock approved a $1.5 million increase effective March 1, 2004, as well as the proposed WNA.

      In September 2003, our West Texas Division filed a rate case in its West Texas System to request a $7.7 million increase in annual revenues and WNA for its residential, commercial and public-authority customers. In May 2004, the 66 cities in its West Texas System approved an increase of $3.2 million in our annual utility revenues. The cities also approved a WNA rider for residential, commercial, public-authority and state-institution customers. This rider became effective in October 2004.

      In June 2003, the West Texas Division filed a rate case in Amarillo, Texas, requesting a $5.1 million increase in annual revenues. In August 2003, the City of Amarillo, Texas approved an annual increase of approximately $2.8 million, which was effective for bills rendered on or after September 1, 2003. The increase was primarily comprised of an increase in monthly customer charges. The agreement with Amarillo also provided for changes in the rate structure to recover the cost of uncollectible accounts, adjustments to base rates to compensate for declining gas usage per customer and provided WNA for the period October through May of each year, which became effective in October 2003.

      Each of our utility divisions is regulated by various state or local public utility authorities. We are also subject to regulation by the United States Department of Transportation with respect to safety requirements in the operation and maintenance of our gas distribution facilities. Our distribution operations are also subject to various state and federal laws regulating environmental matters. From time to time we receive inquiries regarding various environmental matters. We believe that our properties and operations substantially comply with and are operated in substantial conformity with applicable safety and environmental statutes and regulations. There are no administrative or judicial proceedings arising under environmental quality statutes pending or known to be contemplated by governmental agencies which would have a material adverse effect on us or our operations. Our environmental claims have arisen primarily from manufactured gas plant sites in Tennessee, Iowa and Missouri and mercury contamination sites in Kansas. These claims are more fully described in Note 13 to the consolidated financial statements.

      Our Mid-Tex and Atmos Pipeline — Texas operations are wholly intrastate in character and are subject to regulation by municipalities in Texas and the Railroad Commission of Texas. These acquired operations do not include any certificated interstate transmission facilities subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under the Natural Gas Act, any sales for resale under the rate jurisdiction of the FERC or any transportation service that is subject to FERC jurisdiction under the Natural Gas Act. Since 1988, the FERC has allowed, pursuant to Section 311 of the Natural Gas Policy Act, gas transportation services through the intrastate transmission facilities we acquired “on behalf of” interstate pipelines or local distribution companies served by interstate pipelines, without subjecting the acquired operations to the jurisdiction of the FERC. We did not acquire any manufactured gas plant sites in the TXU Gas acquisition. Our acquisition agreement with TXU Gas addresses other environmental matters, which we expect to have no material adverse effect on us or our operations.

      Although our utility operations are not currently in significant direct competition with any other distributors of natural gas to residential and commercial customers within our service areas, we do compete with other natural gas suppliers and suppliers of alternative fuels for sales to industrial and agricultural customers. We compete in all aspects of our business with alternative energy sources, including, in particular, electricity. Electric utilities offer electricity as a rival energy source and compete for the space heating, water heating and cooking markets. Promotional incentives, improved equipment efficiencies and promotional rates all contribute to the acceptability of electrical equipment. The principal means to compete against alternative fuels is lower prices, and natural gas historically has maintained its price advantage in the residential, commercial and industrial markets. However, higher gas prices, coupled with the electric utilities’ marketing efforts, have increased competition for residential and commercial customers. In addition, our Natural Gas Marketing segment competes with other natural gas brokers in obtaining natural gas supplies for our customers.

      At September 30, 2005, we had 4,543 employees, consisting of 4,327 employees in our utility segment and 216 employees in our other segments. See “Operating Statistics — Utility Sales and Statistical Data by Division” for the number of employees by division.

      Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other reports, and amendments to those reports, that we file with or furnish to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are available free of charge at our website,www.atmosenergy.com, as soon as reasonably practicable, after we electronically file such reports with, or furnish such reports to, the SEC. We will also

furnish copies of such reports free of charge upon written request to Shareholder Relations at the address appearing below:

      In accordance with and pursuant to relevant provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, related rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as corporate governance listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange, the Board of Directors of the Company has adopted the Company’s Corporate Governance Guidelines and revised the Company’s Code of Conduct, which is applicable to all directors, officers and employees of the Company. In addition, the Board of Directors has amended the charters for each of its Audit, Human Resources and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committees. All of the foregoing documents are posted on the Corporate Governance page of the Company’s website. We will also furnish copies of such information free of charge upon written request to Shareholder Relations at the address listed above.

      At September 30, 2005 our utility segment owned an aggregate of 81,604 miles of underground distribution and transmission mains throughout our gas distribution systems. These mains are located on easements or rights-of-way which generally provide for perpetual use. We maintain our mains through a program of continuous inspection and repair and believe that our system of mains is in good condition. At September 30, 2005, our pipeline and storage segment owned 6,369 miles of gas transmission and gathering lines.

      Our utility segment also holds franchises granted by the incorporated cities and towns that we serve. At September 30, 2005, we held 1,098 franchises having terms generally ranging from five to 35 years. A significant number of our franchises expire each year, which require renewal prior to the end of their terms. We believe that we will be able to renew our franchises as they expire.

      Our utility and pipeline and storage segments own underground gas storage facilities in several states to supplement the supply of natural gas in periods of peak demand. The following table summarizes key information regarding our underground gas storage facilities: