We’ve attempted to offset the increased costs of power and through March had reduced our internal operating expenses by $60,000 under last year’s expenses and $40,000 under budget for this year. That was before the two snow storms hit us in early April and pretty much ate up whatever savings we were hoping for. As it stands now, we have no other choice than to pass these increased power costs on to you.

After a presentation at their April 17th Board Meeting a recommendation was made to spread the increased costs of power over the remainder of the year so that the effect could be minimized. We hope to have the final numbers in place for the billing which will take place in May for your April usage. The quicker we can get this into our rates and into our billing process the less the impact will be on any given month. I’m expecting the adjustment will be around $.004 (four tenths of one cent) per KWh on all KWhs sold including load management, commercial, residential, seasonal, etc.

Nearly all other electric utilities in the state have been using a power cost adjustment for years in their rates to collect unanticipated costs from their customers. The amount of the power cost adjustment will appear as a separate line item on your bill and could change from month to month depending on our costs from GRE. I wish I had better news for you! I also hope to explain the power cost adjustment more thoroughly at your annual meeting on June 14, 2008.