FortisAlberta's Board of Directors today announced the approval of $240 million in capital projects for 2007, which is net of customer contributions totaling $33 million. The current forecast for 2006 is $217 million, net of customer contributions of $33 million.
"These higher levels of capital investments are required to meet the unprecedented growth driven by the Alberta economy," says Philip Hughes, President and CEO, FortisAlberta. "The strategic investment of capital to support Alberta's customer growth requirements and a focus on electrical upgrades and enhancements across our service territory will position FortisAlberta to continue to provide high quality electrical service in a safe, reliable cost effective manner."
More than half the Company's capital investments in 2007 will be directed towards improving and expanding poles and wires facilities to meet customer demand. These investments will strengthen the physical integrity of the existing electrical system and be used to build additional facilities to improve capacity and reliability.
FortisAlberta is an electric distribution company with approximately 426,000 customers and more than 104,000 km of power lines. It is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Fortis Inc. - a diversified, international electric utility holding company with assets of approximately $5 billion and annual revenues of over $1.4 billion.
