巴菲特致股东的信（2006年）⑥受监管的公用事业业务

Regulated Utility Business

受监管的公用事业业务

Berkshire has an 86.6% (fully diluted) interest in MidAmerican Energy Holdings, which owns a wide variety of utility operations. The largest of these are (1) Yorkshire Electricity and Northern Electric, whose 3.7 million electric customers make it the third largest distributor of electricity in the U.K.; (2) MidAmerican Energy, which serves 706,000 electric customers, primarily in Iowa; (3) Pacific Power and Rocky Mountain Power, serving about 1.7 million electric customers in six western states; and (4) Kern River and Northern Natural pipelines, which carry about 8% of the natural gas consumed in the U.S.

在伯克希尔拥有 86.6%股权的中美能源控股公司旗下，包含许多不同种类的公用事业的营运。其中最大的分别为：(1)约克郡电力与北方电力公司(Yorkshire Electricity,Northern Electric)，拥有 370 万电力用户，为英国第三大的电力分销商；(2)中美能源(MidAmerican Energy)，在爱荷华州拥有 70.6 万电力用户；(3)太平洋电力与洛基山电力公司(Pacific Power,Rocky Mountain Power)，在美西 6 州拥有 170 万电力用户；(4)科恩河与北方天然管道公司(Kern River,Northern Natural pipelines)，供应全美 8%的天然气消耗量。

Our partners in ownership of MidAmerican are Walter Scott, and its two terrific managers, Dave Sokol and Greg Abel. It’s unimportant how many votes each party has; we will make major moves only when we are unanimous in thinking them wise. Six years of working with Dave, Greg and Walter have underscored my original belief: Berkshire couldn’t have better partners.

我们在中美能源控股的经营伙伴是 WalterScott 与其它两位非常杰出的经理人 DaveSokol 与 GregAbel。在合伙的双方，握有多少股权并不重要。只有在经过理智地思考并取得意见的一致后，我们才会做出重要的决定。在与他们三位共事六年后我超越原先的认知：他们真是伯克希尔万中选一的好合伙人。

Somewhat incongruously, MidAmerican owns the second largest real estate brokerage firm in the U.S., HomeServices of America. This company operates through 20 locally-branded firms with 20,300 agents. Despite HomeServices’ purchase of two operations last year, the company’s overall volume fell 9% to $58 billion, and profits fell 50%.

有点不协调的是，中美能源旗下拥有美国第二大的不动产经纪商美国家庭服务公司(HomeServices)，这家公司旗下经营 20 个地区性品牌、拥有 20300 位经纪人。但尽管其去年进行两个收购案，该公司的总成交金额却下降了 9%，达到 580 亿美元，利润也缩水 50%。

The slowdown in residential real estate activity stems in part from the weakened lending practices of recent years. The “optional” contracts and “teaser” rates that have been popular have allowed borrowers to make payments in the early years of their mortgages that fall far short of covering normal interest costs. Naturally, there are few defaults when virtually nothing is required of a borrower. As a cynic has said, “A rolling loan gathers no loss.” But payments not made add to principal, and borrowers who can’t afford normal monthly payments early on are hit later with above-normal monthly obligations. This is the Scarlett O’Hara scenario: “I’ll think about that tomorrow.” For many home owners, “tomorrow” has now arrived. Consequently there is a huge overhang of offerings in several of HomeServices’ markets.

近年来放款质量的低落，是造成住宅不动产交易减缓的因素之一。而"可任意选择"的合约、以及"诱惑"的利率，使得借款人可以在贷款的头几年，以远低于正常利率的利息还贷。在对借款人几乎没有要求的状况下，自然不会有什么违约，如一些尖酸刻薄的说法："不断循环的贷款，因为收不到钱，所以没有损失可言。"但是未支付的利息，却会滚入本金，那些先前不能不正常付息的房贷户，在后来超过正常月还款额的利息负担中不支倒地。如同史 Scarlett O'Hara 的"明天的事明天再担心"现象，对许多房主来说，所谓的"明天"已经到来了。所以，此一后续效应，势必在 HomeServices 公司的几个市场中浮现。

Nevertheless, we will be seeking to purchase additional brokerage operations. A decade from now, HomeServices will almost certainly be much larger.

话虽如此，但我们还是会继续收购其它的不动产经纪业务，因为相信十年后，HomeServices 公司必然将远超过目前的规模。

Here are some key figures on MidAmerican’s operations:

以下是中美能源在运营上的关键数据：