Gainesville Regional Utilities 1999-2000 Annual Report

Gainesville Regional Utilities 1999-2000 Annual Report

Gainesville Regional Utilities 1999-00 Annual Report 02 from the general manager 05 performance and reliability 09 partnership and contributions 13 stewardship and resources 17 citizens and volunteers 20 customer information 21 report on audit of financial statements (on the cover) Nature and high tech rarely combine for a warm story - but 37 supplemental we have one. When a beautiful pair of ospreys built their data nest atop a GRUCom telecommunications tower, solving the problem was a matter of great importance to us. We set about to find a solution that would benefit the ospreys and GRU. Our employees built an osprey-friendly platform and mounted it on top of a utility pole - then erected the struc ture near the GRUCom tower. The nest was moved to the platform while the ospreys were in flight, and upon their return they readily accepted their new home. The project was such a success that we built another osprey tower at our newly constructed Chapman's Pond Nature Trails - already known as one of the best birding sites in the county. Soon, another pair of ospreys had found a new home. Ponds, streams, waterfalls and general irrigation for the new park are provided through our reclaimed water program - another way we connect with our community. gru onnuoa report 01 from the general manager We strive to go "above and beyond" our customers' expectations and to antic ipate their needs before they arise. In that light, it was a year of progressive ini tiatives at GRU - one in which we enhanced our competitive position, expanded our ability to meet future demands and engaged in building positive relationships with our customers and employees. The convenience we offer our customers by providing a multitude of services is unmatched in the industry and remains a key ingredient of our success. To meet the future energy needs of our community, we broke ground last year on a repowering project at our downtown electric generating station. The 110 megawatt natural gas-fired combined cycle unit will come on line in 2001 resulting in financial savings and cleaner air for our city. By holding community charrettes, we gained citizen support for this positive addition to the historic dis trict of Gainesville. Over the past year, we became an equity owner of The Energy Authority (TEA), an organization of six publicly owned utilities whose combined resources strengthen our ability to buy and sell energy in the wholesale marketplace. Being able to identify the best prices quickly, and having the capacity to meet large transaction requirements makes us formidable competitors. We have benefited greatly from this strategic alliance. We now have more than 60 percent of our total commercial electric revenue signed to tong-term agreements, providing even more financial stability and demonstrating sound relationships with this important segment of our customer base. We are also working with several of our very largest customers to develop on-site generation projects that will offer additional reliability to the customer while providing us with additional energy for resale. We are able to provide both large and small customers with energy choice and convenience unmatched by our competitors. Nearly 28,000 customers receive natural gas from GRU, and our gas system is available in virtually every new development built in our rapidly expanding community. Our telecommunications division, GRUCom, continues to grow and expand - providing high-speed, high 02 gru annual report p ' (left) Gainesville Mayor Paula DeLaney and General Manager Michael L. Kurtz survey pole storage facili ties at Koppers Industries, Inc. volume voice and data communications to our business community. And nearly We have reduced costs through 3,000 customers receive Internet service from GRU.Net, making us one of the strategic alliances with vendors largest local Internet service providers. such as Koppers. The alliance with Koppers, our local utility pole supplier, allows our crews We are nearing completion of two new wells in our water system that will to pick up poles at the suppli guard against water supply challenges presented by ongoing drought conditions in er's yard as needed. This elimi the region. These wells will increase our pumping capacity by 30 percent. Our nates costly on-site inventory and repetitive handling of the Largest wastewater plant is expanding its treatment capacity by nearly 50 percent. poles - at an annual savings of And our reclaimed water program encourages inventive ways to reuse treated up to $25,000. wastewater for irrigation and community beautification. From a financial standpoint, in spite of deregulation initiatives in other states and changes in our industry, we have maintained our strong "double A" credit rat ings with both Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's. Our debt service coverage ratio is close to three times our aggregate debt service and nearly two and one-half times our total debt service. We have a proven history of solid finances, with a forecast of continued stability. We recommended and the City Commission adopted a change in the General Fund Transfer formula, effective October 1, 2001, for the electric and telecommunications systems. This change promotes performance, profitability and sales while still pro viding support to vital community services such as police and fire protection. F- N /' gru annual report 103 We can only be successful, however, with the full involvement of our employ ees, so we have made new efforts to continue to improve our internal relation ships. Our Interest Based Bargaining Team made great strides in bringing management and employee goals together through a process of "mutual gains" bargaining. We streamlined work with cross training and cooperative efforts to implement advanced joint trenching practices for our multiple utility services. We increased employee awareness with advanced information technology and encour aged workforce diversity through our recruitment programs. As the American Public Power Association (APPA) president-elect in 1999, and now as president, I've been privileged to travel all over the country as a repre sentative of public power. I traveled to California as the drama of deregulation was unfolding there, and was home in Florida as the Governor initiated the Energy 2020 Study Commission to consider Florida's future energy policy. From my view point, and judging from my conversations with others in our industry, public power has experienced unprecedented positive exposure for steadfastly carrying out its commitment to customer service and consumer protection. We embrace the future and all the uncertainty it brings. Michael L. Kurtz General Manager 04 gru onnuol report When the game is on the line, all that is secondary dissipates. At that moment, aLL the issues boil down to one overriding question - can you deliver? '. performance and reliability When it comes to service - we are the one We strive to be the best in serving our customers. Our multi-service utility pro vides convenience unmatched by any of our competitors - one bill, one call one company. This past summer we conducted customer focus groups and satis faction surveys, and compared our results with other utilities in North Florida. One notable piece of evidence highlighted the satisfaction level of our Top 400 largest customers - 97.8 percent of these customers reported satisfaction with (previous page) our services. We perform in the community. As the exclusive Official Energy Sponsor of the Florida Gators, We are returning superior value to our community we have aligned ourselves with The citizens of the City of Gainesville are our "shareholders," and we are com the most prominent sports pro mitted to providing superior value to the community for their investment. We con gram in North Florida. This tinue to transfer a substantial amount to the General Fund of the City of sponsorship affords us the Gainesville for use in supporting police and fire protection, parks and recreation, opportunity to benefit local transportation, and other important services. This transfer stays children with programs such as here - helping hold down "Game Day with the Gators," in property taxes and providing our community with a better standard of which we treat disadvantaged living. youth and school children to We have had a formula in place for many years to determine the funds to be live Gator sporting events. transferred by each of our five utility systems. With the competitive environment in the electric and telecommunication systems changing, we recommended and (right) the City Commission adopted a new formula for those two systems, effective Our fiberoptic network October 1, 2001. It promotes shared goals between the utility's enterprise func produced our fifth utility tions and general government services, and helps prepare us for competition. This GRUCom telecommunications. very creative formula incorporates funding criteria based on performance, prof Shands Hospital at the itability and University of Florida is at the sales. heart of one of the largest med Under this new formula, the projected General Fund Transfer from the Electric ical centers in the southeastern System for the 2001 fiscal year is $15.7 million and the total transfer for all util United States and is a GRUCom ity systems is projected to be nearly $24 million. partner and customer. GRUCom provides local commerce with reliable high-speed, high volume data transmission. GRUCom is also an Internet Service Provider - through our fast growing dial-up service, GRU.Net. 06 gru annu a report (left) Medline is a nationally based medical supply company with a distribution center in east In addition to the direct financial contribution the utility makes to the com Gainesville. Here, our repre munity, we employ approximately 750 people who, along with their families, Live, sentatives and conservation here, and make a substantial contribution to the vibrancy of work and volunteer specialists discuss the energy our community.

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