Progress Energy 2009 Annual Report Download - page 4

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Please find page 4 of the 2009 Progress Energy annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

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BOTH. MANAGING THE PRESENT. CREATING THE FUTURE.
TURE. THE POWER TO DO BOTH. MANAGING THE PRESENT. CREA
CREATING THE FUTURE. THE POWER TO DO BOTH. MANAGING
GING THE PRESENT. CREATING THE FUTURE. THE POWER T
WER TO DO BOTH. MANAGING THE PRESENT. CREATING THE FU
THE FUTURE. THE POWER TO DO BOTH. MANAGING THE PRESENT
PRESENT. CREATING THE FUTURE. THE POWER TO DO BOTH.
TH. MANAGING THE PRESENT. CREATING THE FUTURE. THE
THE POWER TO DO BOTH. MANAGING THE PRESENT. CREA
CREATING THE FUTURE. THE POWER TO DO BOTH. MANAGING
Managing the present
The financial pressure on our company has gone up another
notch or two in 2010 because of a disappointing Florida
rate decision early in the year and a still-sluggish economy
throughout the nation. These events inevitably affect our
earnings and cash flow and have caught the attention of
the credit-rating agencies.
In response, we are redoubling our belt-tightening this year:
maintaining the dividend, streamlining maintenance, scaling
back capital spending and reducing merit and variable-
performance pay increases for employees (in fact, no merit
pay increase for executives and managers in 2010). This
is a shared-sacrifice approach that’s neither desirable nor
sustainable for long but is necessary for now.
We are also evaluating our regulatory and financial options
in Florida and are continuing to do our part to foster a
constructive Florida regulatory climate that will enable us
to attract the capital required to meet our customer and
environmental obligations. Also of note in Florida is the
extended repair outage at our Crystal River Nuclear Plant,
which we expect to complete midyear.
We are managing these and other challenges in a disciplined
way to avoid compromising safety or operational excellence.
In this business, we can’t afford to be reckless or short-sighted.
Creating the future
At Progress Energy, we believe strongly in the long-term growth
prospects of the communities we serve in the Carolinas and
Florida. An improving national economy and housing market
will enable more people to move to our service areas and
more businesses to invest and expand here. So, even as we
are making the tough choices to manage today’s realities,
we are carefully laying the groundwork for the higher growth
and better future we see coming.
We intend to remain attractive to the buy-and-hold investors
who represent the core of our shareholder base. This investor
confidence is essential for us to fund the projects needed to
be ready for a growing population and expanding economy
as well as to meet the requirements of new energy and
environmental policies.
National and state energy policies remain in flux, especially
the rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address
global climate change. This prolonged uncertainty greatly
2