Dominion Power 2011 Annual Report Download - page 18

/ Dominion Resources / 2011 Summary Annual Report /
Worldwide, which presented Dominion with
one of four national Summit Awards, the only
utility to receive such an honor.
The company and its philanthropic arm gave
more than $21 million to support essential human
needs, environmental stewardship, education
and community vitality in 14 states.
What makes me especially proud is Dominion’s
leadership in hiring military veterans. Coming
from a military family, I am keenly aware of the
challenges faced by combat veterans returning
home. At Dominion, we recruit veterans for
careers as line workers, nuclear security officers,
power station operators and other vital jobs
because they are disciplined, safety-conscious
and civic-minded. We launched the Troops
to Energy Jobs program to fulfill this mission.
In 2011, we hired about 100 veterans.
Economic conditions and the August
“hurriquake” reminded us to expect the
unexpected. The work of Dominion’s 15,800
employees in 2011 — building on our foundation
of safety, ethical behavior, excellence and
teamwork — gives me confidence we can
overcome just about any obstacle that Mother
Nature and, yes, also human nature might throw
in our way in 2012.
Thank you for investing your hard-earned money
in Dominion and putting your trust in us to build
necessary energy infrastructure for the future.
Sincerely,
Thomas F. Farrell II
Chairman, President
and Chief Executive Officer
Using a cost-benefit analysis in assessing
our merchant power business — are the costs
of adding environmental equipment justified
for our company and our shareholders? — we
have announced plans to retire Salem Harbor in
Massachusetts and State Line in Indiana, both
coal-fired generating stations. The company
began deactivating these units in 2011. We are
also investing in added environmental controls
at two other coal-fired plants — Brayton Point in
Massachusetts and Kincaid in Illinois.
We are also doing our part to invest in alternative
energy solutions and energy efficiency. Dominion’s
Alternative Energy Solutions group is reviewing
investments in such energy technologies as
offshore wind, solar photovoltaic, distributed
generation, fuel cells, battery storage and smart
microgrids, among other things. A Dominion
Virginia Power pilot program helps electric vehicle
owners who utilize off-peak charging of their
vehicles by providing favorable rate structures.
Thank You
Although, as expected, 2011 brought about the
first year-over-year operating earnings decline
since 2005, Dominion had a successful year.
Our employees did their jobs safely and
well, helping to set new companywide OSHA
recordable incident records along the way.
The Fossil & Hydro and nuclear business units,
Dominion East Ohio and Dominion Hope and our
Services company all had best-on-record safety
performance in 2011.
Our growth investment program moved full
steam ahead, on budget and on time.
We continued to work constructively with
our regulators.
Our total shareholder return outpaced that of
the major market indices and of our peers.
In addition, our employees volunteered
almost 160,000 hours of community service.
These efforts were recognized by United Way