This has been quite a winter! We have had unusually warm weather during late 2011 and early 2012. While this weather has allowed our crews to get a lot of maintenance work done, it has not been great for KWH sales. I realize that this is a two edged sword and your bills have not been as high with a cold winter, but that in turn reduces our revenue. We still have over 600 accounts that have not come back after the flooding of this last summer. We are in the process of evaluating our revenue position for the coming year and beyond. We have looked at everything to try to become as lean as we can be with our expenses and still maintain the level of service that you have become accustomed to. We have sent our 2011 year end results to our rate analyst for review. It looks like right now we are going to have to increase rates in April of 2012 to meet our financial requirements from our lenders. We will be letting you know more as these results become known. If you have any questions, please give us a call.
We are also looking at a legislative agenda from the national organization that includes possibly looking at the Environmental Protection Agency and the many rules and regulations that are currently stifling growth in the electrical production industry. Our national leaders think that the mood of the country will change after the 2012 election and it will be a great time to look at some of these regulations that are chocking our industry. As you have probably heard from the many speeches, the current administration has a war on coal fired generating plants. This war is very costly to you, the end user. We will try to do everything that is possible to continue to produce clean, efficient, low cost power to be distributed to you, our members. I will try to keep you informed as we progress down this path.
As the spring rush gets underway I want to remind you of how dangerous those electrical lines can be. Those overhead wires are carrying very high voltage and a contact with them can result in serious injury up to and including death. Please take the time to survey your work area for overhead wires and make a note of where they are. We want you around to enjoy what this area has to offer. So please always remember to “LOOK UP AND LIVE.”