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whether it is fossil fuel or nuclear. We must by law be prepared to supply electric service to anyone who wants it in any amount that is wanted.
Unless population and economic growth in our area comes to a halt, and all existing customers add nothing more to the current load, it appears that our demand for electric service will continue to increase in the future, but at a rate substantially below the 10.8 per cent annual growth experienced in the past 20 years.
Events of the past year, brought about by double—digit inflation, the higher costs of money, the fuel crisis and other adverse economic conditions, have seriously threatened Vepco’s financial health to such a degree that we recently cut our construction program by $478 million for 1974-1976.
First of all, earnings have deteriorated. As of the end of December, earnings per share had dropped 24 per cent since December 1973 before the cumulative effect of change in accounting method. Unfortunately, this trend in the company’s earnings is threatening our ability to continue to construct the remainder, of our
96.6%