Unlike many utilities, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District does not appear to be hurting too much in this economy. SMUD saw lower-than-expected revenue last year but it was offset by higher than expected total operating revenue, according to the muni’s annual fiscal report. “The consolidated result for 2008 was an increase in our net assets of $22.1 million,” SMUD controller Cary Nethaway told the muni’s board during its March 5 meeting. “And that was compared to a budgeted increase of $19.2 million, so we did a little bit better than we had planned.” Customer sales and other revenues were $37.1 million lower than were antic ipated. “That was due to lower customer usage and a lower number of customers,” Nethaway said. Customer sales and other revenue were budgeted at around $1.2 billion, but were actually about $1.16 billion, according to the audited results. Operating expenses for the year were budgeted at $1.17 billion, but came in at $1.34 billion, primarily due to power purchase costs that were about $85 million more than expected. However, Nethaway said, total operating revenue for the year was about $1.48 billion, as opposed to the budgeted $1.32 billion. The higher-than-projected overall income was mainly due to $139 million in unbudgeted sales of surplus natural gas. Also during the meeting, Nethaway reported on the utility district’s financial results for the first month of the year. In January, the district pulled in $98.3 million of actual revenue, down from the projected $99.4 million. Actual expenditures, however, were below projections, Nethaway said. They were $69.4 million during January, as opposed to a projected $97.7 million. This was due to lower-than-expected power generation costs, lower net gas prices and a lower amount of gas used. SMUD general manager John DiStasio revealed last month that the muni is proposing six projects it hopes will qualify for funding under the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package. “Projects that are ‘shovel-ready’ within six months are those that are most likely to have access to funding,” he said. One, for instance, would be federal assistance “to advance our smart grid investments.” DiStasio said that if SMUD doesn’t receive any funds directly, the stimulus package would still probably provide indirect aid. “There is additional money for existing programs, such as home weatherization and energy bill paying assistance for low income customers,” he said.
