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Doug Bechtel
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Well, here it is, the Christmas season is upon us. Another year is just about over. It is amazing how fast this year has gone.
Even though 1994 was a great year for OPALCO all the news has not been good news. We have shared many of these problems with you in previous OPALCOGRAMS, but overall I don't want these problems to overshadow all of the good we have accomplished. I feel particularly good about the progress that we have made in 1994. We are proud of the new substation on Lopez and the transmission system improvements on Lopez and Shaw that we did this year.
OPALCO continues to be staffed with a group of dedicated and hard working employees that really care about our members and really care about keeping the lights on and who really want to help our members with problems. I am familiar with a lot of employees at a lot of utilities and the group here at OPALCO is as good as any group of employees that I have seen.
This is not to say that we can rest on our laurels. There are many things that we can and should do better. We continue to work to be better in each and every thing we do.
During 1994 we got a good handle on where OPALCO is going to go in the future. The Long Range Plan will provide a road map for far into the future. We have identified our problems so we can control them rather than the other way around. Our storm abatement program has brought significant improvement to our system reliability. It seems that we are doing far better than the mainland. We are focusing on our submarine cables to prevent future failures and to help BPA fix their cable which failed in November.
While I have serious concern over the ultimate outcome of the Bonneville Power Administration "reinvention", I think that OPALCO has done as much as possible to influence the process to our benefit and to position ourselves to take advantage of what the future will bring.
1995 will bring with it its share of problems and successes. All of us here at OPALCO look forward to serving you in the future.
On behalf of all the employees of OPALCO, I want to wish everyone the happiest of holiday seasons and best wishes for a prosperous and healthy 1995. Merry Christmas!!
Doug Bechtel
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