fund related personnel and printing costs. The company itself has also supported Project Share through direct contributions to the Red lCross. The company views some of the money expended for the corporate responsibility program as recovered funds because of the customers retained and the bills paid through the program. NYSEG officials assume that these charges would, under normal circumstances, have remained unpaid and would eventually have been written off as losses. NYSEG's bad-debt level is 20 percent lower than that of the average US. utility company. The company believes that its corporate responsibility policy is both altruistic and good business, despite the program's maintenance costs. Though these costs well exceed recovered revenue, the service builds excellent customer relations. In other words, staffing and otherwise paying for these programs is a net financial loss for the company and its shareholders what many businesses would call a \"losing proposition\" but managers and shareholders do not (in public) complain about these unnecessary expenses, and most seem to feel good about the extra services the company provides to its customers. It is unknown what view Energy East Corp. will ultimately take of this program, which is acquired from prior management at NYSEG. The program could be disbanded, cut back, or enlarged to serve all of Energy East's several utility services