Commissioner’s Letter

When one juxtaposes the world events of 2010 to those of TMLP, we are taken by what a great year the organization had despite the craziness of everything around us. Consider the following snapshot:

The year began with a 7.0 earthquake in Haiti, killing 230,000 and leaving 1 million homeless. The US government was struggling to breathe life into the economy by artificially bolstering home sales with incentives and unemployment payments to carry folks a little longer, and applying stimulus funds to projects throughout the United States. Financial instability was occurring throughout the world. Greece made the news a couple of months into the new year with its credit being downgraded to junk status for four days, at which point the IMF (International Monetary Fund) agreed to a bailout on the premise that Greece agreed to an austerity program. After the announcement of Greece’s dire financial straits, the US stock market plummeted 998 points… speculation pointing precariously to a possible depression.

The BP/Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded causing 29,000 square miles to be affected with oil residue and 11 people to lose their lives; Pakistan’s flood claimed 1,600 lives and over a million were displaced. Chilean miners got trapped in a copper mine for 69 days… thankfully all were rescued. Mother Nature wasn’t the only one sporting a mood. North Korea shelled South Korea and Wiki leaks released over 100,000 war documents marked “secret.”

The silver lining to all the noise reverberating from continent to continent was that many US companies, like TMLP, managed to do just fine… in fact, they did relatively well because they became more focused and more determined to get back to basics and focus on the value proposition that made them successful in the first place. When the TMLP management team came to the Commissioners at the beginning of the year with their business goals and objectives for 2010, the focus was clearly on the fiduciary responsibility to the rate payers. Cost containment without sacrificing the integrity of the business and the services customers have come to expect; sustainability of core services, the environment, and the perceived benefits and reputation of the organization during a time when all else around them seemed completely out of control.

Clearly, tough decisions were made along the way but all were vetted with the understanding that the customers were the focus. Probably the toughest decision during 2010 was to place Unit 10 on hold. However, given the financial market and outlook of future pricing – that is, low natural gas prices coupled with low capacity prices, the team and its interested parties were convinced the right thing to do was to temporarily suspend further action on the project until the energy and financial climate changed. Looking back a year later, that decision to hold off was a good one.

The value of the TMLP remains strong. Finances are strong, rates are stable and the ability to run a public power company in the City of Taunton remains a benefit far greater than anyone imagined in 1897 when the company was founded. Given the strife in the country and the fact that many a company closed its doors because of the economic pressures, we remain proud that our team of employees out-performed beyond our expectations. Operating expenses were down 5%, net income increased by 22% and TMLP’s net worth increased by nearly 8%. The infrastructure was improved, remediation projects completed and all the while, the rates did not increase. For a $100 million dollar company, the debt-to-equity ratio was 7.9%… a truly phenomenal feat.

Our thanks to all who contributed to the success of 2010.

Respectfully,
TMLP Board of Commissioners
Peter H. Corr, Chair
Joseph Martin, Secretary
Mark Blackwell Sr.