Another new owner for North Penn Gas Co.

The former North Penn Gas Company, serving customers in Potter and McKean counties, has been sold once again.

PPL Corporation announced last week that it is getting out of the natural gas business.

The utility signed an agreement to sell its natural gas distribution subsidiary, PPL Gas Utilities Corporation, and propane subsidiary, Penn Fuel Propane, to UGI Utilities for $268 million.

PPL has served about 77,000 natural gas customers in counties throughout Pennsylvania and other states, including Potter and McKean, who were previously served by North Penn Gas Company.

The agreement is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of the year.

Assets include about 3,800 miles of pipeline and underground gas storage capacity in three separate reservoirs in northcentral Pennsylvania.

The propane subsidiary buys propane on a wholesale basis and stores, delivers and sells it to about 33,000 industrial, commercial and residential customers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia.

William H. Spence, PPL's executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the sale is part of the company's strategy to "focus on growth opportunities in our core businesses of power generation, energy marketing and electricity delivery."

UGI Utilities serves natural gas to approximately 478,000 customers in 28 Pennsylvania counties, including the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon, Reading, Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport.