|
Still, our earnings were down. In 2002, net income dropped due to a depressed electric wholesale market and non-recurring charges. However, earnings from our core operations remained relatively strong as a result of outstanding operational performance.
Despite punishing markets and a slack economy over the last two years, we continued to improve reliability and customer satisfaction, and took extraordinary steps to meet customer demand. In this challenging environment, flexibility and agility remain essential to our success.
We continued an unprecedented series of price reductions, insulated customers from volatile wholesale markets and added new generation capacity to meet Arizona Public Service (APS) electricity demand not met by existing APS generation. Our power plant performance set records. We saw significant earnings improvement from unregulated subsidiaries SunCor and APS Energy Services.
Going forward, our story will include a large component of state regulation. We know the regulatory environment and have shown the ability to adjust to its changes. This is a challenge, but it’s familiar.
There is no place we’d rather do business than here in Arizona. This is a unique and dynamic state. Our growth has been robust, and has slowed little through the current economic downturn. We’re still adding customers at about three times the national average. When economic growth and business investment return to historical norms, our strong fundamentals will, again, support earnings growth. Excellent performance has softened the blow of a weak economy and changing regulation. We’ve been through a turbulent year, and we won’t attempt to minimize its impact. In coming years, the overall picture looks brighter.
Throughout these pages you’ll see images of our state. Those that survive and thrive here possess unique adaptive abilities, hard-earned experience and the flexibility to adjust to change. I see a lot of our company in these examples. 
Page 1 of 5 |
 |
|
|
William J. Post
Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer, Pinnacle West Capital Corporation |
