What do we know about CPU?

Guess how much we pay in pensions at CPU?

22% of their gross wages! If my information is wrong please show me the facts to correct my statement.

Why don't we just pay into a 401K for each one of them instead of locking our selves into pensions we might not be able to honor in the future?

We need to take a look at CPU; will do that tomorrow and get the "look" started.

The ratepayers may have the last laugh yet when these employees that are planning their lavish retirements making 75 % of their pay find things have changed. AND, change they will!

In 1978, I read an article stating that in 1978, 31 years ago, the combined UNFUNDED pension debt for federal, state and local employees was 3 TIMES the annual national budget. Think of what it is today. There are a lot of retired people already who are not getting the pensions they planned. Government workers may find the same situation tomorrow.

AND, if there is a lawsuit against CPU by CURRE, it may just be determined that their employees are not entitled to participate in the IMRF at all.

I have a friendly source for CPU info. Per their audited financials, the employees contributed 4.5% of their annual covered salary and CPU paid 21.92% of payroll.

The difference in a 401k and this plan is the 401k is a "defined contribution" plan while the IMRF is a "defined benefit" plan. I don't know of very many corporations that offer defined benefit plans anymore and I don't the federal government does either. Think about it, if you work for Home Depot or such, you contribute 4% of your wages and, at best, HD may match it. Probably not. There are few companies that match dollar for dollar.

The governor has said "something" has to be done about state pensions. I agree. So, again, the ratepayers and taxpayers may have the last laugh when these employees find out they are not going to get that "golden parachute" they are planning on, when they find out they are in the same boat as all the other retirees who saw their retirement plans go down the drain with the stock market decline.

wouldn't be cheaper to break the contract with cpu and bring in someone like amern...just a thought

The auditors are required to include a narrative on “factors impacting future periods” in their audited financial statements.

For 12/31/07, the auditors wrote:

At Dec 31, 2006, the electric customer base was 1,628, gas customer base was 2,368 and East Cape gas customer base was 151. At Dec 31, 2007, the electric customer base was 1,592, the gas customer base was 2,294, and the East Cape gas customer base was 151. In the past year, electric customers decreased by 36 or 2.21%, gas customers decreased by 74 or 3.13%, and East Cape gas customers remained the same.

Within the city limits of the City of Cairo, electric customers decreased by 19 and gas customers decreased by 20 in the past year and continues to decrease. There are no new homes being built and many of the existing homes are becoming uninhabitable either through disrepair or fire.

The condition of the City of Cairo as a whole is bleak. The downtown area is in shambles.

Buildings are crumbling and some have collapsed attracting photographers from across the country. Sewers in some parts of town have collapsed causing streets to cave in.

The city cannot receive grant funds for demolition of abandoned properties because their financial statements have not been audited for the past four years. The Company is researching the feasibility of receiving and administering grant funds on behalf of the City of Cairo for community development.

The city council and mayor are on amicable terms. However, the City is deeply in debt and they cannot afford to provide the services of a large city to a dwindling population.

The City struggles from pay period to pay period to provide the necessary city services relying monthly on municipal taxes and refuse payments collected by CPU on their behalf and the lease obligation payments due from CPU.

Plans for the construction of a bio-diesel plant, a coal gasification plant and an ethanol plant have all been abandoned. One of the Company’s largest manufacturing customers, Ferguson Aluminum at Olmsted closed their doors in May 2008.

On the CPU web site it still says we are paying $1.499 for gas,every where else it's 75¢ or less. It also says:The Utility also provides, distributes, and maintains natural gas services to customers located in Cairo, Mounds, Mound City, Pulaski, Ullin, Dongola, Olmsted, Future City, Urbandale, Patierdale, Spencer Heights, Villa Ridge, East Cape Girardeau, McClure, and nearby unincorporated areas.

Guess that means at least 1592 of the 2294 are homes in Cairo & the rest 702 belongs to the other cummunities.

That is because you are paying for your utility to:

"The Company is researching the feasibility of receiving and administering grant funds on behalf of the City of Cairo for community development."

As you know from watching the ACORN drama play out, "community development" is very, very costly!

Just heard last night that our utility brought electric rates down about 10%. Have CPU electric rates decreased accordingly?

curre wrote:

Guess that means at least 1592 of the 2294 are homes in Cairo & the rest 702 belongs to the other cummunities.

That is not clear. The auditors say:

"The Company provides electric and natural gas service for the residents of Cairo and its outlying areas in southern Illinois, including the cities of Mounds, Mound City, Olmsted, Villa Ridge, Pulaski, Ullin, Wetaug, Dongola and East Cape Girardeau."

Doubt there are 1592 houses/customers in Cairo.

But, looks like there are at least 702 customers outside the City of Cairo who buy just gas from CPU and are so kind as to help us subsidize the City of Cairo's excessive spending and neglect.

Wonder if they would support C.U.R.R.E. if they understood that??

supporter wrote:

<quoted text>

Wonder if they would support C.U.R.R.E. if they understood that??

That's the Sixty-four thousand dollar question, oops I meant $60,000.00 a month question. lololol

..... 2007 audit

The total assets of CPU exceed the total liabilities by $ 1.52 million

Operating revenue increased by $ 80,000 or 1%

Operating expenses increased by $ 1.24 million or 11%

yes, operating expenses increased by 1.24 million in just one year or 11%!!!

Administrative and general expenses increased by 18% or $ 279,000, including increases in insurance expense of $ 176,000 and employee pension expense of $ 102,000.

Prepaid Insurance decreased by 173,000 or 85% due to a SUBSTANTIAL DECREASE in the workers' compensation insurance premium.

Customer Accounting and Collection Expense $ 379, 830!!!!! I would expect that to be the wage expense of those nice (and the one not-so-nice)people in the front office who take your payments, along with their supervisor.

And, then on top of that, Administrative and General Expenses $ 1,826,410

And I always thought that businesses ran on air! OMG! Thanks for letting me know that it costs money to run something! Now I know I'll NEVER open one of my own!

Sounds like the office is heavy on personnel. Or way out of line on payroll in comparison to duties performed.

Well, I had planned on just being the messinger of the facts with no commentary, but.......

couldn't help myself..........

just called a rural electric co-op that has 6000 meters and they have (drum rollllllll) 25 total employees, office, field, everything.........

Wonder how many employees CPU has? for how many customers?

This co-op probably covers 4 or 5 thousand square miles, probably more. I will get more detail on this and at least one more.

Just don't understand why the insurance and employee pension increased so much in one year. Does it increase this much every year ??? That is a lot of money for the customers to pay. Workers Compensation Insurance decreased and there was still a $176,000 increase in Insurance. What kind of insurance increased this much and why ???

supporter wrote:

..... 2007 audit
The total assets of CPU exceed the total liabilities by $ 1.52 million
Operating revenue increased by $ 80,000 or 1%
Operating expenses increased by $ 1.24 million or 11%
yes, operating expenses increased by 1.24 million in just one year or 11%!!!
Administrative and general expenses increased by 18% or $ 279,000, including increases in insurance expense of $ 176,000 and employee pension expense of $ 102,000.

Worker's Compensation insurance deceased. And wonder who the Not-so-nice person is ???? I know of one but maybe there is another one. LOL.

supporter wrote:

Prepaid Insurance decreased by 173,000 or 85% due to a SUBSTANTIAL DECREASE in the workers' compensation insurance premium.
Customer Accounting and Collection Expense $ 379, 830!!!!! I would expect that to be the wage expense of those nice (and the one not-so-nice)people in the front office who take your payments, along with their supervisor.
And, then on top of that, Administrative and General Expenses $ 1,826,410

supporter wrote:

Prepaid Insurance decreased by 173,000 or 85% due to a SUBSTANTIAL DECREASE in the workers' compensation insurance premium.
Customer Accounting and Collection Expense $ 379, 830!!!!! I would expect that to be the wage expense of those nice (and the one not-so-nice)people in the front office who take your payments, along with their supervisor.
And, then on top of that, Administrative and General Expenses $ 1,826,410

Come on supporter. You seem to have so much information. there has to be an answer for why there was such a substantial increase in insurance. And just who is the not so nice person in the office. Give us at least 1 initial. I have heard that there is going to be position open in the office. Just wondering if it might be the "not so nice" position.

Let's hope so! And, the reason I say that is because unless they get rid of some of the well paid people like her, our utility rates will just have to go that much higher.

Read in the paper about 2 years ago that Ali was complaining that his utilities were over $ 2500 a month (I think that was the number, can go back and check). The 3 restaurants that closed must have had utility bills at least that high with gas ovens and stoves going 18 hours a day. And, how many more empty houses do we have? Unless CPU cuts costs, you and I will have to make up the difference in their rates. And, it doesn't look like they are going to cut if they are replacing her. Can't believe they NEED to replace her.

Interesting aboout the decrease in workers comp premium since when I called and asked about workers' comp, I was told their premium was over $ 300,000 a year and they had an excessive number of claims.

I do not have a lot of info, yet, only their audited financial statements for one year.

After January 1, 2010, I can submit FOIA requests and get a lot more info.

Does pension expense increase by this much every year?

Most likely and probably more each year as wages increase.

While our government is talking about the problems with social security, they will not talk about government workers' pensions and normally state and local employees have better benefits than federal employees.

In 1978, I read an article that the total UNFUNDED federal, state and local pension debt was 3 times the annual national budget.

I just read that in Illinois, the UNFUNDED pension debt for the IMRF was times last years state budget. The gov mentioned briefly that something has to be done with it but then got clobbered by the unions and backed off. This is a major problem. Either they have to raise taxes 300% OR state workers are not going to be getting those pensions at some point in time in the future.

With CPU, they just got recognized as a governmental unit eligible for participation in the IMRF recently, so they have to catch up with contributions. While employees contribute 4.5%, the company (you and I) pay 21.92% of their payroll to the pension fund each year. Thanks to us, the ratepayers, these employees will end up collecting more in pension when they retire than they made working. It is not unusual for governmental units to raise salaries for employees the last 3 years so they qualify for a higher pension which is normally 75% of the average of their wages the last 3 years. Did I read recently that the school district did that?

supporter wrote:

Let's hope so! And, the reason I say that is because unless they get rid of some of the well paid people like her, our utility rates will just have to go that much higher.
Read in the paper about 2 years ago that Ali was complaining that his utilities were over $ 2500 a month (I think that was the number, can go back and check). The 3 restaurants that closed must have had utility bills at least that high with gas ovens and stoves going 18 hours a day. And, how many more empty houses do we have? Unless CPU cuts costs, you and I will have to make up the difference in their rates. And, it doesn't look like they are going to cut if they are replacing her. Can't believe they NEED to replace her.
Interesting aboout the decrease in workers comp premium since when I called and asked about workers' comp, I was told their premium was over $ 300,000 a year and they had an excessive number of claims.
I do not have a lot of info, yet, only their audited financial statements for one year.
After January 1, 2010, I can submit FOIA requests and get a lot more info.

Wonder why they have an excessive number of Worker's Comp Claims ??? Could it be the addition of the Hardware Store. Sounds like maybe the Hardware Store has been a big expense for the rate payers. I don't understand why a Utility Company would want to own a retail business especially in Cairo. So many business's have closed in Cairo. Have you checked out their prices ??? I did once !!!!!!!!