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CUC posts $6.4M net loss
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Posted on Mar 21 2005
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. posted a net loss of $6.4 million in the first four months of fiscal year 2005, as a $5.6-million increase in production fuel costs offset the $2.1 million that CUC had managed to cut from its administrative expenses.
An unaudited financial statement issued by CUC showed that the utility firm generated total operating revenues of $23.8 million from October 2004 to January 2005, a 1-percent decrease from the $24.1 million total revenues collected in the same period last year.
CUC attributed the decline primarily to billing adjustments and to a lesser extent, decrease in usage of existing customers.
Of the revenues earned from CUC operations in the first trimester of FY 2005, 83 percent came from the power division; 13 percent from the water division; and the remaining from the wastewater division.
CUC, however, reported an operating loss of $3.3 million, as a result of a 15-percent increase in its total operating expenses.
Data showed that, while CUC was able to slash its general and administrative costs from $6 million to $3.9 million, the savings were offset by a 47-percent increase in the cost of production fuel. From only $11.9 million in the first four months of FY 2004, CUC’s fuel costs climbed to $17.5 million in the same period this fiscal year.
As to non-operating expenses, CUC made $3.1-million total loan payments to the Commonwealth Development Authority and $399,159 to other creditors during the first four months of FY 2005.
Mandatory payments made by CUC to the Office of the Public Auditor totaled $22,231 during the same period.
Meanwhile, CUC earned only $642,569 in miscellaneous revenues, resulting in a net non-operating loss of $3.1 million.
Overall, the utility firm posted a net loss of $6.4 million in the first trimester of FY 2005, representing 129-percent drop from the $2.8 million deficit recorded in the same period last year.
