Newfoundland Power has delivered safe, reliable electricity to the people of our province for over 130 years. We provide electricity service to over 87% of all customers in Newfoundland and Labrador. Our unwavering commitment is to be there for you, whenever and wherever you need us…no matter what the weather…24/7.
268000
Electricity Customers
12000
Transmission and Distribution Lines
250000
Utility Poles
You can count on us
We have deep roots in this province. We care about the people and communities that make us who we are. Safety, reliability, customer service and sustainability are part of every decision we make. I’m proud of our team and of the results they deliver. Our story in a nutshell is shared below. Enjoy.
Peter Alteen
President and Chief Executive Officer
Newfoundland Power Inc.
Keeping the Lights On
Taking a warm shower. Keeping your family cozy. Turning on the kettle. Or, maybe even plugging in your car. Electricity is critical to our everyday lives. We distribute electricity to customers in over 600 communities on the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador. We know you depend on us. This is a responsibility our employees have been proud to deliver on for over a century.
The geographic nature and location of our electricity system exposes us to some of the harshest weather in North America such as ice storms, blizzards and hurricane force winds. 2018 was a challenging year for weather. We experienced double the number of extreme weather events than we typically experience. There were 14 days in November where winds exceeded over 100 km/hr across our service territory. Our crews responded to nearly 18,000 outage related calls from our customers, and 85% of those were responded to within two hours.
Our reliability performance is among the best in the country. Newfoundland Power’s customers on average experience approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes of power interruption annually. This represents approximately half the Canadian average for utilities of similar size and service territory.
We pride ourselves on our well-run and well-maintained electricity system. Our system is strong, and when it breaks, our skilled and experienced employees fix it. In 2018, we invested approximately $92 million to ensure our system continues to give you the reliable service our customers expect.
Connecting With You
We aim to provide you with friendly, prompt and helpful service each and every day. We work hard to make valuable connections with our customers and it shows. Our customers gave us an overall satisfaction rating of 86%, and 91% when you deal with us directly. We’re thankful that you appreciate the hard work we do.
When it comes to your electricity service, we know keeping you informed is important. This year we updated our website to serve you better. Our new site has improved navigation and more self-service functions. It can be viewed on any phone, tablet or computer you choose.
Quick and convenient access to information becomes increasingly important if your lights go out. We work hard to provide timely updates about the status, cause and restoration time for outages. We will be implementing a new Outage Management System to allow us to respond to outages faster and provide more detail about outages affecting your home and business.
We provide tools to help you lower your electricity costs by using less. Our takeCHARGE rebate programs help our customers save over $3 million each and every year. This year we launched a heat pump savings calculator to assist customers in deciding if a heat pump is the right choice for their home.
We encourage our customers to make wise choices about their energy use, and our skilled and experienced staff are ready to provide sound advice and recommendations. Knowledge is power. We’re educating customers on energy efficiency. This year we had face to face conversations with thousands of customers. We delivered educational programs, participated in special events, and hosted energy forums and retail days.
Living Safe
Electricity can be a dangerous business. That’s why there is nothing more important than the safety of our employees, our contractors and our customers. We provide our employees with the appropriate tools and training so that they go home to their families safely at the end of every day.
Monitoring, reviewing and continuous improvement are key components of ensuring we remain among the best when it comes to our safety practices. Recent Safety and Environment Management System, and Safety and Environment Compliance audits confirm that we are compliant with best practices and management standards as well as current legislation and other guidelines. This shows our safety action plans are working.
We place a high value on educating and creating awareness of the dangers of working or being around electricity. Our public safety outreach through training seminars, advertising and educating students has proven to be invaluable in preventing unnecessary accidents from happening. As a result, the number of public contacts with our electricity system decreased by almost 45% over last year.
Our employees are committed to putting not only their own safety but that of their co-workers at the forefront of everything they do. We celebrate the many safety milestones our employees achieve in recognition of a job well done, a job done safely. In fact, this year we had two operational areas reach over 25 years all injury free, an impressive achievement.
We have created a culture of safety, one where we take care of each other. Making sure no one gets hurt are words we live by, and practice each and every day.
Sustainability matters. We take care of each other, our communities and our environment. We make responsible decisions today for the betterment of people tomorrow. After all, we’ve been here for 130 years and we expect we’ll be here for many more.
Hardworking People
We are immensely proud to have a team of employees with diverse backgrounds, skills and experiences. We employ and develop local talent, and provide steady and rewarding careers, right here at home. Our people share similar values and an unwavering desire to be there for our customers – a quality that is core to Newfoundland Power’s success.
In 2018, our workforce continued to change as we welcomed new employees and recognized the retirements of longstanding employees. We are optimizing our changing workforce demographics. New people mean new ideas, and we’ve started some great initiatives this year.
We created a Green Team to focus on improving our day-to-day practices to take better care of our environment and reduce our carbon footprint. The Team began and rejuvenated multiple recycling programs, including: curbside recycling; coffee grounds; pull tabs; eye glasses; electronics; and, the removal of paper and plastic kitchen utensils. They also launched digital signage at the corporate office to minimize paper use.
We’re also helping our employees stay healthy. We provide support to assist employees on their overall wellness journey. Nearly 20% of our employees participated in healthy lifestyle screening clinics with our Occupational Health Nurse. Employees who were concerned about their results could participate in a wellness coaching and support program, called Measure Well. Supporting the overall health and wellness of our employees continues to be important at Newfoundland Power.
Jason Dalton, Environmental Specialist, was recognized by the Canadian Electricity Association for individual leadership in the area of sustainability. Jason has been advancing Newfoundland Power’s environmental initiatives for many years and is a highly respected member of our team.
Thinking Green
We consider the environmental impacts of all our decisions. Whether it’s performing maintenance or repairs on our electricity system or providing customers with their bills electronically – we’re thinking green all the time. For over 20 years, our annual EnviroFest program has brought together employees and communities from across our province.
In 2018, we initiated five beautification projects: we completed a tree planting project in Port aux Basques; enhanced a walking trail in Grand Falls-Windsor; helped kick-off the opening of the Farm and Market in Clarenville; beautified a community park in St. Bernard’s-Jacques Fontaine; and, created an outdoor classroom and vegetable garden at Holy Family Elementary in Paradise.
Our takeCHARGE program works with people, organizations and communities to make energy efficient upgrades to their homes and businesses, saving them energy and money. In 2018, we launched the inaugural takeCHARGE Luminary Awards to recognize those who have shown tremendous leadership in promoting and advancing energy efficiency. There were 11 recipients from all across Newfoundland and Labrador.
Part of your Community
Our connection to the many communities across our province goes well beyond simply providing financial support…it’s about getting involved in a hands-on way. We are proud to play a leadership role in the areas of health, education, arts and culture, youth and sports. Through our corporate donations, sponsorships and employees’ in-kind support, valued at approximately $670,000 annually, we are making a meaningful difference in the lives of others.
Our corporate charity, The Power of Life Project, has raised over $4 million in partnership with the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation. This money supports cancer care for our families, friends and neighbours, right here at home. Just this year we opened a Garden of Hope at the Sir Thomas Roddick Hospital in Stephenville; and, provided much-needed cancer care equipment to cancer centres in Port aux Basques, Corner Brook, Gander, Carbonear and Burin.
We are proud to partner with other like-minded organizations. In 2018, our employees made 175 blood donations. We were a gold sponsor of the Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games to support the youth of our province in the areas of leadership, teamwork and perseverance. We also offered scholarships at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the College of the North Atlantic.
Approximately 1,700 LED light bulbs were donated to nonprofit organizations through a takeCHARGE initiative called “Make the Switch”.
We’re proud to be there for our communities – whenever and wherever they need us.
Leadership Team
Our leaders are experienced, diverse and dynamic Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. They are committed to safely operating Newfoundland Power as one of the best run electrical utility companies in Canada.
Looking Forward
Our province’s electricity system is changing. Our employees are highly skilled and experienced. They’re ready. For whatever comes our way, whenever it comes.
We’re planning today for tomorrow, for the benefit of our customers.
We understand what’s most important to you is reliable service at affordable rates. We are committed to doing our part to ensure we manage our operations in a way that minimizes our impact going forward. We are also looking into the future and at what innovations like electric vehicles may do to the way we deliver and use electricity.
In the past 20 years, electricity rates have increased by 4 cents/kWh
Newfoundland Power’s costs have contributed to only ½ cent/kWh
