City’s electric sales rebounded in February

City of Cairo officials are continuing to carefully monitor revenues from the sale of electricity and gas as the end of the fiscal year on June 30 looms.
The Cairo City Council’s finance committee met Monday and reviewed the financial report for February, which showed an increase in electricity revenues.
According to Cairo City Manager Chris Addleton, electric sales in January were down by 24 percent when compared to January 2011. The sales jumped somewhat in February and were off only 11 percent.
However, Addleton is not confident the city will hit the budgeted target of $15.8 million in electric sales for this fiscal year.
“We are down between $300,000 and $400,000 right now, and I just don’t see us making that up unless we really have some hot, hot months in May and June,” Addleton told finance committee members Mayor Pro Tem James H. (Jimmy) Douglas and Councilman Ernest Cloud.
Through February, total electric sales were $9,671,204.45. The city budgeted $15.8 million in sales for FY2012, but the total sales in 2011 were only $14,498,110.11.
The city manager said he has no doubt that the budget for the gas division is blown. Because of an unusually mild winter, gas sales in January were down 39 percent and in February sales were off 32 percent.
Through February, total gas sales were $803,922.42 and Addleton said the city would be lucky to hit $1.2 million in gas sales.
Mayor Pro Tem Douglas projected total gas sales will be below that, and city officials acknowledge it will be the lowest level of annual sales in three years.
The city has experienced a steady decline in the sale of natural gas since 2009 when the city sold $1,628,150.25. In 2011, total sales had dropped to $1,398,306.37.
“We will not meet the budget for gas,” Addleton said this week.
Although revenues are off, the city manager pointed out that the city is purchasing less power so budgeted expenses are also well below the projected numbers.
Addleton said he believes the city will come up below the budgeted revenues for electric sales, which provides much of the cash to operate city government, but said he believes the city will be “all right.”
“We are continuing to monitor our financial situation and we can delay or hold off on certain projects, if necessary, to get through this fiscal year,” the city manager said.