2001 PUC revenues exceed expectations

Revenues up

$1.1 million

through November

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The Public Utilities Commission got cash, and lots of it, for Christmas.

Revenues for the first 11 months of the 2001 budget year totaled $29,381,202, which is $1.1 million more than what was expected to be generated for the entire year.

Unless there is a huge drop in December revenues, the 2001 revenue total will certainly top $30 million, with net income possibly exceeding budget by $3 million or more before transfers in lieu of taxes.

The current budget projects net income, after transfers, of $1,447,756 for 2001 from a budget of $28.2 million.

When transfers in lieu of taxes amounting to $1,251,553 is subtracted from year-to-date income of $3,263,698, $2,012,145 in net income remains.

While Utilities Director Robert Stevenson has been predicting the surplus would diminish as natural gas demand rose, the department's cash position remains favorable.

While November's revenues did, in fact, fall $21,561 short of the budgeted $2,215,559 and expenses went over budget resulting in a monthly shortfall of $224,147, it didn't make much of a dent in the year-to-date bottomline.

Putting some past-year perspective on these figures, revenues through November, 2000, totaled $23,235,802, $6.1 million less than this year. The year-to-date total for net income before transfers was $1,525,795, and after transfers, $482,720.

On a division basis, the Electric division was the strongest performer with a net income of $37,857, based on revenues totaling $1,212,706. The other utility divisions produced negative cash flows.

Over-budget expenditures also impacted November figures. Five of the department's six divisions went over budget in expenditures. Only the Natural Gas division had expenditures that were lower than budgeted.