巴菲特致股东的信（2019年）⑤伯克希尔·哈撒韦能源

Berkshire Hathaway Energy

伯克希尔·哈撒韦能源

Berkshire Hathaway Energy is now celebrating its 20th year under our ownership. That anniversary suggests that we should be catching up with the company’s accomplishments.

伯克希尔·哈撒韦能源 (Berkshire Hathaway Energy) 正在庆祝加入我们旗下的第20个年头。这个周年值得我们回顾一下公司取得的成就。

We’ll start with the topic of electricity rates. When Berkshire entered the utility business in 2000, purchasing 76% of BHE, the company’s residential customers in Iowa paid an average of 8.8 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Prices for residential customers have since risen less than 1% a year, and we have promised that there will be no base rate price increases through 2028. In contrast, here’s what is happening at the other large investor-owned Iowa utility: Last year, the rates it charged its residential customers were 61% higher than BHE’s. Recently, that utility received a rate increase that will widen the gap to 70%.

先从电价这个话题说起。2000年伯克希尔进入公用事业领域时，收购了BHE 76%的股份，当时该公司在爱荷华州的居民客户平均每度电价为8.8美分。此后居民电价每年涨幅不到1%，而且我们承诺在2028年之前不会上调基本电价。作为对比，来看看爱荷华州另一家大型投资者持有的公用事业公司的情况：去年该公司对居民客户收取的电价比BHE高出61%。最近，那家公司获批了一次提价，差距将扩大到70%。

The extraordinary differential between our rates and theirs is largely the result of our huge accomplishments in converting wind into electricity. In 2021, we expect BHE’s operation to generate about 25.2 million megawatt-hours of electricity (MWh) in Iowa from wind turbines that it both owns and operates. That output will totally cover the annual needs of its Iowa customers, which run to about 24.6 million MWh. In other words, our utility will have attained wind self-sufficiency in the state of Iowa.

我们的费率与他们之间的巨大差距，很大程度上归功于我们在风力发电方面取得的巨大成就。预计到2021年，BHE在爱荷华州拥有并运营的风力发电机组将发电约2,520万兆瓦时。这一产量将完全覆盖其爱荷华州客户约2,460万兆瓦时的年度用电需求。换句话说，我们的公用事业公司将在爱荷华州实现风能自给自足。

In still another contrast, that other Iowa utility generates less than 10% of its power from wind. Furthermore, we know of no other investor-owned utility, wherever located, that by 2021 will have achieved a position of wind self-sufficiency. In 2000, BHE was serving an agricultural-based economy; today, three of its five largest customers are high-tech giants. I believe their decisions to site plants in Iowa were in part based upon BHE’s ability to deliver renewable, low-cost energy.

再来对比一下，那家爱荷华州的公用事业公司风力发电占比不到总发电量的10%。而且据我们所知，到2021年，全球没有任何一家投资者持有的公用事业公司能够实现风能自给自足。2000年，BHE服务的是一个以农业为基础的经济体；如今公司五大客户中有三家是高科技巨头。我相信，它们选择在爱荷华州建厂，部分原因正是BHE提供可再生、低成本电力的能力。

Of course, wind is intermittent, and our blades in Iowa turn only part of the time. In certain periods, when the air is still, we look to our non-wind generating capacity to secure the electricity we need. At opposite times, we sell the excess power that wind provides us to other utilities, serving them through what’s called “the grid.” The power we sell them supplants their need for a carbon resource – coal, say, or natural gas.

当然，风能是间歇性的，我们在爱荷华州的风机只在部分时间运转。在某些无风时段，我们依靠非风力发电能力来保障所需电力。而在风力充沛的时段，我们将多余的风电通过"电网"出售给其他公用事业公司，替代了它们对碳能源——比如煤炭或天然气——的需求。

Berkshire Hathaway now owns 91% of BHE in partnership with Walter Scott, Jr. and Greg Abel. BHE has never paid Berkshire Hathaway a dividend since our purchase and has, as the years have passed, retained $28 billion of earnings. That pattern is an outlier in the world of utilities, whose companies customarily pay big dividends – sometimes reaching, or even exceeding, 80% of earnings. Our view: The more we can invest, the more we like it.

伯克希尔目前持有BHE 91%的股份，合伙人包括小沃尔特·斯科特 (Walter Scott, Jr.) 和格雷格·阿贝尔 (Greg Abel)。自从我们收购以来，BHE从未向伯克希尔支付过一分钱股息，而是随着时间推移留存了280亿美元的收益。这种做法在公用事业行业是个异类，这类公司通常会慷慨分红——有时甚至将80%甚至更多的利润派发出去。我们的态度是：能投资的越多越好。

Today, BHE has the operating talent and experience to manage truly huge utility projects – requiring investments of $100 billion or more – that could support infrastructure benefitting our country, our communities and our shareholders. We stand ready, willing and able to take on such opportunities.

如今，BHE拥有管理真正大型公用事业项目的运营人才和经验——那些需要1,000亿美元甚至更多投资的基础设施项目——可以造福我们的国家、社区和股东。我们随时准备好、愿意并且有能力承接这样的机遇。