We can't survive by continuing to do that.

Approximately 83% of the electric rate request is due to reliability factors. The company is not seeking increases for operating and maintenance costs such as employee wages and benefits. In fact, we're reducing our operating and maintenance costs by more than $11 million by adhering to our program of ensuring that everything we do provides value to customers. The program is working -- higher rates notwithstanding.

We know that customers are tiring of these electric rate increases. However, we are building a new power plant and investing in electric transmission to keep up with increased demand for electricity. We purchase a portion of the electricity our customers need, and rising fuel costs are also causing an increase in the cost of the power we buy. These investments and purchases are needed to ensure reliability. Simply put, our business is more costly to operate than it was in the past.

If we want to keep the lights on, we need to build plants.

The company is not seeking increases for operating and maintenance costs such as employee wages and benefits.

My biggest objection to Marxism has been the presumption that industry should exist at all. I think the unstoppable juggernaut which is global warming demonstrates that processing natural materials on an industrial scale is a suicidal practice.