I-TEAM: El Paso Electric Annual Report Warned of Potential Equipment Failure
At 147 pages, El Paso Electric’s most recent report to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, a report covering 2009, is loaded with numbers.
Numbers such as the company’s service area covers 10,000 square miles, serves 370,000 customers and turned a profit of over $66 million that year.
But after last week’s freeze and El Paso Electric’s power failures, the I-Team wanted to know whether there was anything in the report that shows the utility knew of its vulnerabilities.
On page eight of the document, known as a 10-K, the company writes:
“…some studies suggest that climate change could affect our service area by…causing more extreme weather events.”
“Such developments could change the demand for power in the region…or affect maintenance needs and the reliability of company equipment.”
The report then states the company would monitor any climate chances.
The I-Team wanted to know how they went about doing that.
El Paso Electric Spokeswoman Teresa Souza told ABC-7 the company has staff that watches the weather and receives updates from the National Weather Service.
On page 28 of the 10-K report, the document warns:
“We are particularly vulnerable to (unplanned outages) due to the advanced age of several of our gas-fired generating units in or near El Paso.”
On page 48, it’s revealed the company decreased its maintenance expenses by $7.5 million, or 11.2 percent, in 2009.
Souza said El Paso Electric’s power generating units are on a schedule for major overhauls. If one of those overhauls happened the year before, in 2008, then 2009’s maintenance expenses would go down.
In another company report, the I-Team learned El Paso Electric CEO David Stevens earned more than $1.8 million in 2009 with $500,000 of that came from his base salary with most of the rest coming in the form of stock with the company.
According to Forbes Magazine, Stevens’ salary is in line with those of other power company CEOs around the country with some making more than $2.3 million a year.
Related Links:Link:City Council Wants To Be A Part Of El Paso Electric InvestigationLink:El Paso Electric Answers When Power Problem Might Be Fixed, How Blackout Areas Chosen And MoreLink:El Paso Electric Co. Website
