What are some of the challenges facing?   UIL over the next several years? The primary challenge we face is continuing to provide electric reliability to our customers. Reliability depends on our region's extensive electric system, which consists of numerous generating plants, electrical substations and miles of transmission and distribution power lines. It's an infrastructure that must constantly grow and change to satisfy the state's ever-increasing energy needs.

Another challenge facing UI is the demographics of the workforce. In the next five years, 30 to 40 percent of UI's trained workforce will be eligible for retirement. We addressed this issue in the recent distribution rate case. We will need to hire and train new workers to ensure that we have enough electric system workers to sustain our historical service excellence.

What are UIL's strategies for managing increasing energy costs? Our company shares the public's concerns about recent increases in energy costs. While we cannot control fuel or generation costs, UIL is involved in a number of efforts to help counterbalance the impact of these increases. For example, we put fuel contracts in place through 2006 that have kept our prices stable. As these contracts draw to an end in December 2006, our staff will approach procuring a new generation services contract with the same diligence and thoroughness as we have done in the past in order to maximize value and minimize cost for our shareowners and customers.

We are also working to reduce costs by vigorously promoting energy efficiency and conservation supported by the Conservation and Load Management Fund and will continue our work with federal and state legislative and regulatory entities to help craft intelligent and responsible energy policies. The Middletown to Norwalk Project is a critically important part of managing costs in southwest Connecticut.

Do you have any comment on your upcoming retirement as UIL Chairman and CEO? I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to help lead this outstanding company for eight plus years, both as chairman and as president and CEO. During my tenure, we have seen many changes.

The company has moved through the arduous process of restructuring its regulated utility, UI. We divested our generation business. We invested in non-utility enterprises that support our region's energy infrastructure, serviced the country's need for walk-in payment services and have become one of the largest specialty contractors on the east coast of the U.S.

Our businesses have survived the impact of the tragedy of 9/11, a major economic downturn and the continuing changes in regulation. Despite these challenges, we delivered a strong return to you, our shareowners.

We survived and prospered along with our communities. During my time as CEO, we have been a consistent corporate partner in the community's economic development success. For example, we championed corporate support for the state's housing tax credit contributions program, which resulted in the creation of hundreds of additional units of housing for the Connecticut workforce.

We were pleased to support a revitalization of New Haven's central business district. The area is now characterized by a resurgence of retail, the development of a culturally diverse restaurant trade and a robust urban housing market. A downtown special services district was created to make new money available to improve and market New Haven. We are active in a similar manner in Bridgeport.

I'm proud to have served on the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City in New Haven and co-chaired the Governor's Competitiveness Council task force that led to the restructuring of the state's technical high school system to meet the needs of the state's future economy.

I am confident that our seasoned executive team will lead UIL Holdings Corporation into a future bright with possibilities. I leave UIL knowing that I dedicated my service here to growing our business, serving our customers and communities, recognizing the contributions of our employees and providing value to our shareowners.