Free Republic

Bellevue-based utility company Puget Energy Inc. expects its 2003 earnings to be cut by as much as 25 cents per share because of drought conditions in the Northwest, according to a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company's 2003 earnings are expected to take hit because of low hydroelectric production in the region. Precipitation levels during the last three months of 2002 were 67 percent of normal in the Columbia River Basin above Grand Coulee Dam. The Northwest Rivers Forecast Center on Jan. 9 predicted that streamflows in that basin would be only 80 percent of normal,...