From ElPasoTimes.com:
El Paso Electric’s profit increased 87.4% in 2021 to $146.2 million, a new financial report shows.
. . .
Last year, El Paso Electric paid IIF shareholders $128.4 million in dividends from its profits, but the shareholders then elected to invest $105 million of that money back into the utility for construction projects and other improvements, reported Richard Ostberg, EPE’s chief financial officer.
[El Paso Electric CEO Kelly] Tomblin said, “Our customers are relying on us, but so are the people who have invested in us, and they are (several hundred thousand) pensioners.”
Think of the poor shareholders.
The amount of electricity sold to its customers in 2021, excluding wholesale electric sales, was the most in the company’s 120-year history, company officials noted.
However, residential electric consumption declined just over 4% in 2021, the financial report shows. Some of that decline was related to a cooler summer and a warmer winter than average, [El Paso Electric Chief Financial Officer Richard] Ostberg said.
That didn’t stop residential sales’ revenue from growing 7.2% to almost $421 million — the largest dollar amount of any of the company’s customer classifications.
El Paso Electric is currently negotiating with the City of El Paso in an effort to raise rates by $41.8 million.
But, they already getting yet another rate increase, and the reason given was “to invest in infrastructure.” I still do not understand why a customer should be required to pay extra for a business’ investment in anything.