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ness report put out by Vepco itself on March 1, while Vepco in recent years had indeed experienced a ten per-cent annual electricity sales gain, the rate of increase declined ever since President Nixon called for conservation measures last November. The decline was called “significant” in a Washington Post story.
Why, then, the continued hard pressure for the new line? Would it not be far more reasonable and prudent for the SCC to postpone the entire question for three or five years so that usage trends can be more accurately determined? Is it not fair to say that the whole basis for the original application of Vep - co is now invalid? Why rush through a license to desecrate the countryside with hideous steel structures that may not even be needed, once built? Moreover, in five or ten years, if we have patience, underground lines may be feasible, if needed.
The experience of the Potomac Electric Power Company, which serves Washington, D. C. and the Maryland suburbs, is similar to Vepco’s and other huge powerlines. Far from its past experience, Potomac Electric is expecting a slight decline in actual electric sales in 1974, ac
97.9%