Setting the Direction
e aspire to excellence in every aspect of our operations. We realize we must excel in multiple dimensions to succeed over the long term. We set specific aspirations for our financial, environmental and societal performance, and we track our progress each year. In our 2006 annual report we presented our five-year aspirations for 2006 through 2010. A summary of the progress we made in 2009 against key measures in each aspiration is detailed below.
We aspire to continually deliver top-quartile total shareholder return. In 2009, our total shareholder return was 2.4 percent, which ranked in the bottom quartile of our peer group. We are very disappointed in this performance, as we know our shareholders must be. We are more determined than ever to deliver results more in line with our 11-year track record of top-quartile total shareholder return.
We aspire to provide clean, reliable and affordable power in our utility business. We announced an agreement in 2009 to purchase Acadia Unit 2 that will help us meet demand while lowering fuel costs. We improved from 2008 to 2009 on key customer service metrics such as regulatory outage complaints, outage frequency, outage duration and call-center response measures. We met our cumulative emissions goal under our second voluntary commitment to stabilize our greenhouse gas emissions from 2006 to 2010 at 20 percent below year 2000 levels.
We aspire to operate safe, secure and vital nuclear resources in an environment that is expected to grow over the long term and be carbon-constrained. Our non-utility nuclear fleet achieved a capability factor of 93 percent and its second-highest generation output ever. Entergy’s collective nuclear fleet achieved its highest ever generation output. Regarding the proposed spin-off of our non-utility nuclear assets, we made the decision to unwind the business infrastructure associated with the proposed separate companies of Enexus and EquaGen and redirect efforts into other strategies following the decision by the New York State Public Service Commission in March 2010 to reject the spin-off. We continued to seek license renewals at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station and Indian Point Energy Center, working to address issues specific to each.
We aspire to break the cycle of poverty and contribute to a society that is healthy, educated and productive. In total, financial assistance bill payments for Entergy’s low-income customers were more than $51 million in 2009, an 87 percent increase in dollars and a 75 percent increase in number of transactions over 2008. We also helped support the weatherization of more than 5,200 homes across our utility service territories, which lowers utility bills for our customers and reduces damaging CO2 emissions.
Our Points of View
We develop and continually update our points of view on key competitive, regulatory, financial, environmental and social issues that impact our operations and our stakeholders. We base our points of view on sophisticated market analyses that evolve with changing market conditions. We use our points of view to help determine the appropriate business strategies to implement to make progress toward our long-term aspirations. Our point-of-view-driven business model has been proven successful over many years, consistently enabling Entergy to take early mover positions in developing opportunities.
Here are our current points of view on the key issues of safety, diversity and inclusion, environmental protection and preservation, social responsibility and risk.
Safety
We believe every employee and contractor must be committed to achieving an accident-free work environment. Our policies, systems and metrics are aligned to support a robust safety culture that extends from entry-level employees to the office of the chief executive. We recognize and reward employee behaviors that are consistent with our core value to create and sustain a safe work environment.
Diversity and Inclusion
The strength of any organization lies in a diverse, inclusive work force. We believe a diverse work force brings greater insights to our operations and contributes to our long-term success. We expect Entergy employees to embrace and demonstrate this point of view in their daily work. We also strive to ensure our employees are fully engaged in their careers by providing ample opportunities to develop and grow. To demonstrate the strength of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, the Executive Diversity and Inclusion Council is chaired by Entergy Chairman and CEO J. Wayne Leonard.
Environmental Protection and Preservation
As an organization, we have a responsibility to protect and preserve our environment. We believe we should conduct our operations in a manner that minimizes our environmental impact. We recognize the importance of preserving our finite global supply of clean air and water as well as the biodiversity that exists within ecosystems, regions and across our planet. We also believe in aggressively advocating for public policies consistent with our points of view on the environment.
We have long believed that greenhouse gas emissions have a harmful impact on our environment. As a result of our research, we have developed guidelines for the development of a smart carbon policy, which include finding a solution for conventional coal plants. We continue to advocate aggressively to local, state and federal policymakers for the timely implementation of effective climate change regulations.
Social Responsibility
As an organization, we can only be as strong as the communities we serve. We aspire to contribute to a society that is healthy, educated and productive. We also believe we have a moral responsibility to help break the cycle of poverty. To demonstrate this belief, we support initiatives that provide support to our low-income customers, especially those focused on education and literacy.
Risk
We believe managing risk is an essential component of every business strategy. Informed risk assessments are essential to the establishment of effective controls to protect our employees, the public and the environment. Successful risk management can create long-term advantage. We actively manage many different types of risk, including financial, commodity and operational risks.
Our Values
At Entergy, we live and work by a system of shared values intended to guide our interactions with our customers, investors, employees, contractors and vendors. These values are:
- Create and sustain a safe work environment.
- Possess a winning spirit.
- Focus on our customers.
- Grow the business.
- Be active team players.
- Treat people with respect.
- Aggressively look for better ways.
- Take actions to achieve results.
- Above all, act with integrity.
Our value system is embodied in our Code of Entegrity, which outlines all of the company’s policies and ethical standards. We expect every Entergy employee to know and follow the Code. To ensure that our standards are upheld, we’ve contracted with an outside company to create the toll-free Ethics Line, 1-888-257-ETHIC. Code violations can be reported simply and anonymously.
Entergy and its employees conduct business in accordance with our system of values. As a corporation, we do not make contributions to any political organization.
Our aspirations, points of view and values define our organizational purpose and direction. We apply our distinctive organizational strengths to make steady progress toward our long-term aspirations.
