EPB spent more than $32,000 on its 2008 annual report, which contains pop-up displays to capture positive attention, a company official said, although attention of a different sort is popping up.

“It could be perceived as something more than it actually is,” said Danna Bailey Cannon, EPB vice president of marketing. “The majority of the book is financial information. Even if it didn’t have the pop-ups, the mailing costs wouldn’t be much less.”

The city-owned utility spent more than $32,000 printing 800 annual reports, plus $2,817 to mail 580 copies, Mrs. Cannon said. The reports contain financial statements for the fiscal year ending June 30. Not counting postage, the 76-page books cost about $40 each. The full-color books are printed with high-quality paper.

Ben Cunningham, a spokesman for Tennessee Taxpayer Revolt, called the city utility’s reports an extravagance.

“In this period of very difficult times for taxpayers, you would think that the taxpayer-owned utility would be a little more sensitive to taxpayers and not be so extravagant with their money,” Mr. Cunningham said. “I doubt very seriously the taxpaying citizens of Chattanooga would approve.”

The report is being mailed at the same time that customers in the Tennessee Valley are paying higher electric rates. The Tennessee Valley Authority raised its rates an average of 20 percent for bills mailed to customers after Oct. 1, which includes electricity used in September.

The EPB is currently passing through all the added cost to area consumers.

EPB customer Marketa Ricks said she thought the book’s price was expensive, especially when electric rates have risen.

“With the economy the way it is, they should help people out,” she said. “It’s a hardship.”

Ms. Ricks said her electric bill normally is $70 to $80, but the October bill was $110.

reports’ purpose

The annual reports present EPB’s vision to financial institutions that don’t know about the utility, Mrs. Cannon said. That’s especially important with agencies that set EPB’s bond rating, which determines how cheaply the utility can obtain credit, she said. The report also was mailed to some local officials and the media, and a copy was presented to each EPB employee, she said.

Several editions of EPB’s annual reports have won awards from utility and advertising associations, Mrs. Cannon said.

One public official said he agreed that the audience makes a difference in how the information is presented.

“I would be critical of a very glossy and expensive annual report if it were just reporting to the city of Chattanooga ... but they have so many markets they’ve entered and so many stakeholders, it’s more of a marketing piece than a financial report,” said Dr. Richard Casavant, a Hamilton County commissioner and dean of the College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He said, however, he has not seen the report.

Knoxville Utilities Board this year will stop printing an annual report unless one is requested, said Pam Jordan, manager of communications. The utility, which provides electricity, water, and natural gas and handles wastewater, will release its annual report online in about a month, she said.

“We have a little different philosophy from some utilities,” Ms. Jordan said. “We have found it’s best to help get our message across to keep this in-house, and we keep our costs as low as we can. Our focus is to stay on the customer and what can we do for the environment.”

Last year KUB printed 485 color copies of its annual report at a cost of $2,231, she said.

EPB also offers its report online and had considered making this year’s report available on a thumb, or flash, drive, Mrs. Cannon said. But the utility chose to continue printing the report because many people in the target audience — financial institutions — prefer paper, she said.

“It’s not absolutely necessary to have,” she said. “It’s one piece of the equation. Ratings agencies don’t know us. We can give them the financials and share our vision and show them we’re progressive ... and get good ratings get good interest rates when we need to borrow money.”

Work on the report began in April, well before TVA decided to increase its rates, Mrs. Cannon said.

“We are responsible with customers’ money,” Mrs. Cannon said. “A month ago if we started on it I might be more inclined to do it cost effectively.”

In one move to be frugal, EPB aims to build 95 percent of its Christmas window displays with second-hand materials and use energy-efficient LED lights, she said.