by Rebecca Walker — October 12, 2008—A newly released Black & Veatch analysis addresses issues faced by US electric and natural gas utilities in light of the country’s financial uncertainties.
A special edition of Black & Veatch’s Energy Strategies newsletter outlines how utilities are currently in the midst of a variety of risks and other fundamental cross currents.
“The utility industry is not immune to the current financial conditions that government, business and consumers face, even though utility securities are often considered safe havens in times of economic difficulty,” said Richard Rudden, Senior Vice President of Black & Veatch’s Enterprise Management Solutions Division. “Utilities have huge capital requirements. Trouble in the capital and credit markets could lead to less reliable service if system improvements and expansion plans are held up because financing is not available.”
Rudden noted that Black & Veatch’s surveys of key industry issues over the last three years show rapidly increasing needs for the development of new, capital-intensive infrastructure in natural gas pipelines and power generation, transmission, and distribution systems. The industry contemplates spending hundreds of billions of dollars on these and related assets over the next five years.
Black & Veatch is a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company specializing in infrastructure development in energy, water, telecommunications, management consulting, federal and environmental markets.
