Wednesday, March 30, 1988/The Battalion/Page 5
by Jon Caldara
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BUCH FOR Lurm ST.
SU case near completion
ith $17 million increase
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y ■ AUSTIN (AP) — The rate-mak-
t 6 p.m a ft? marathon that is the Gulf States
■tilities case appears ready to end
jdertod&ftednesday with a net increase of
about $ 17 million.
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B The Texas Public Utility Commis
sion took several votes in the case
Buesday, leaving one decision for to
day on whether the increase should
Be imposed at one time or phased in.
nal meeiffthe last vote was postponed until
Hie commission staff could calculate
pexact numbers.
ay rooiti-H Kim McMurray, GSU spokesman,
Jid the increase apparently wotdd
»ise monthly residential bills for
1,000 kwh from the current $74.06
tp about $81.
I The Beaumont-based utility,
which said it was headed toward pos
sible bankruptcy at the time, filed in
November 1986 for a $144 million
rate increase. The heart of the case
as the company’s $3.1 billion in
vestment in the River Bend nuclear
plant in Louisiana.
The commission decided earlier
is year to prevent the company
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from passing to customers $1.4 bil
lion of those costs, but said it would
give GSU another shot, at a subse-
quent hearing, at proving the money
was well-spent.
“We think we did prove it up,”
McMurray said. “We think we will be
able to prove up most or all of that
amount.” '
The commission’s approximate
$17 million bottom line is roughly
the same as proposed by PUG exam
iners, although the commission and
the examiners took different routes
to reach it. The gross increase in an
nual revenues is about $87 million,
but that includes a $39.9 million
emergency increase that has been in
effect since last April and does not
reflect a $30 million refund for fuel-
cost adjustments.
McMurray said the Texas in
crease, plus a $92 million increase
ordered in Louisiana by that state’s
courts, would put GSU in an im
proved financial condition.
“At least in the short term we
hope that this will allow us to borrow
money at reasonable rates,” he said,
predicting GSU would need loans in
May. “Wt/ve got some fairly large
bills that have to be paid then.”
GSU hhsjprojected a $ 189 million
shortfallior 1988.
The inarathon case, longest in
commission history, on Tuesday
continued to produce heated differ
ences among the commissioners on
some issues. Commissioner Jo
Campbell, who dissented on many of
the Vey votes in the case, lashed out
at the company Tuesday, likening its
officials, on one specific issue, to
“spoiled brats.”
“There is a limit to what we expect
ratepayers to do to keep the com
pany afloat,” she said during the
meeting.
After the session, Campbell said,
“Bankruptcy is always a serious sub
ject, but I think I have tried consis
tently to take the position that we
can’t save the company from bank
ruptcy if it’s going to be bent on
spending its way there.”
it ineetin? !
udget cuts affect Houston’s zoo
>ed McW 1
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tisionsaf
will w
HOUSTON (AP) — The latest
ictim of Houston’s budget woes is a
ipular petting zoo for children that
[ill have to close down by next
month, officials said.
Although the Discovery Zoo will
be dosed this summer, it could re
open in the fall if there is enough
I money provided in the fiscal 1989
budget, Don Olson, Parks and Rec-
:ation director, said Monday.
“We are just too understaffed now
to keep it open,” Olson said.“If there
was any way to keep it open, I
would.”
About 2 million people visit the
Houston Zoo each year, and about
two-thirds of them go to the petting
zoo, Marilyn McBirney, the Discov
ery Zoo’s senior keeper, said.
The city is trying to curb spending
as it tries to deal with another budget
shortfall. During the past three
years, the petting zoo’s staff has been
reduced from 18 to 11 keepers as
part of other budget-trimming ef
forts.
Like most city departments, parks
and recreations has been held well
below its 1988 budget of nearly
$20.2 million, and Mayor Kathy
Whitmire has ordered another
$567,000 cut by the end of the year.
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having an Easter Special!
Hop on down today!”
oo
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with this coupon
reg. $21.95
expires 4-10-88
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T
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Open:
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Sat 8:00-6:00
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Information Sessions:
Tues. April 5, 7:00 pm, 308 Rudder
Wed. April 6, 7:00 pm, 510 Rudder
Applications are also
available in 216 MSC
for more information call:
Paul at 268-8682 or 845-1515
^Memorial Student Center Opera and Performing Arts Society