Name: Duke Energy CEO: Financial concerns secondary to employees, customers during pandemic
Uploaded: 2020-04-28
Duration: 8 min 52 s
Description: Lynn Good says Duke is focused on maintaining their 'essential service' for customers relying on power in their homes.

[ SOUND ] Lynne, thank you so much for joining us. As you know, everybody is talking now about when is the right time in the right way to reopen the economy so that people can go back to work, leave their homes and have those in person meetings. What are your plans ?>> Your Suzy, you're exactly right. As we see the virus reaching a peak, that conversation is occurring all over the areas that we serve. And so what we have done is we've set up a task force, a group of business leaders to really evaluate the conditions that we need to see in order to move forward. We are presently working under a remote work plan until May 15th and then we'll began bringing the people back. And I would say the guiding principle here are of course safety of our employees and gradual staggered deliberate thoughtful approach to bringing people back. We wanna make sure that the conditions are safe that we can practice the social distancing. We've got the personal protective equipment. And so I see scenarios where were staggering hours were staggering days different states are coming back at different times. And all along the way we'll be monitoring what's happening in our communities and what's happened at Duke Energy. Because I think all of us are concerned that there could be a spike or a reoccurrence of more virus infections and we want to make sure that we are transitioning in a way that keeps people safe. Let me pick up on the part you said different states because. Duke operates in seven states and so each state has its own conditions for allowing businesses to reopen. So, how does this work for your company in terms of your operations and business continuity? Yeah, Susie it's going to be one of the key things that we look at in the task force that we've put together is going to be looking at requirements on each from each state, the federal requirements, CDC guidelines, best practices. And actually as an industry we have spent a lot of time with our European Colleagues, European utilities to learn what they have learned as they begin to transition workforce back. So all of that information will go into the calendar that we develop. And I would say it will be multi month as we begin piloting, starting with a few employees, checking, adjusting. See how it's going And then more deliberately begin bringing people back over several months. Besides the timing of all this people are really on edge about going back to work. They're concerned about safety issues, health issues. What are you telling your employees to reassure them. You Susie, I would point to a couple of things, certainly reinforcing with employees that the guidelines that we're following and safety. Protocols are consistent with what we're hearing from the CDC from our states and the federal government. And communication has been extraordinarily important. Not only videos and podcasts and open forums for employees have an opportunity to ask questions, but also the portal where we have put All kinds of information for employees. we've communicated with families by sending fliers to their homes outlining the safety precautions that are underway because we found the family members are also concerned. So there's been an opportunity Here to really test a variety of methods to communicate with employees also take employee survey results and get some feedback that way. So it's been a number of things Susie and I think that'll be an effort that Continues. What are your thoughts about virus testing? Temperature checks? Is this something that would reassure your workforce and if so, could this then become. A normal regular way of life in the workplace. We have used both testing and temperature checks Susie, I think about the work underway at our power plants, where we bring in contractors and other employees from outside of Duke Energy We have employed temperature checks really as a way to reinforce to people coming into our site that if you're not feeling well, we want you to go home and get better. And then come back when you're not suffering from those symptoms. And we use testing voluntarily. To give employees an extra level of assurance that they're well. And if they believe they've been exposed, the testing can give them some confidence. If they're infected, they can get help, and if not, they can come back to work with confidence. So whether or not this is a long term issue, Susie, I think that remains to be seen, but certainly It's an extra layer of protection that we think is appropriate at this point. So Lynn, once you get beyond this opening up phase so to speak up what's the outlook produce business? We provide an essential service Suzy and I think that has been underscored during this virus almost more so than at any point. You think about the number of people who are working at home, who have their children at home who have refrigerators full of food and are doing so many things in that confined area. Electricity is what makes it possible for us to do all of those things and so we continue to serve our customers serve them well and believe that energy and providing energy in a clean, safe and reliable way Is an extraordinarily important industry and one that represents a growth opportunity as we go forward. You know, so many companies, big or small, have shut down. So we're talking about from restaurants, shopping malls, corporate offices, sports arenas, all of them that use electricity. And not to mention that Duke has been very generous and And not collecting payments from some of your customers who just can't afford to pay their bills. What is the financial impact of all of this ?. Susie, I would say to you that, during the last two months our focus has been on two things. One is. Providing reliable service to our customers, making sure there's essential services there, every hour of every day. And then secondly, keeping our employees safe. And we've talked about that. And so as we thought about how do we do our work during this period, our customers are struggling as you indicated, many of them. So setting aside Disconnects, no anxiety necessary for customers around disconnect around fi so that they can work on the things that they need to work on during this pandemic. We are seeing a reduction in load. I think that's something that's been reported throughout the US. We are also watching closely the economic forecast on, is there a bounce back in the third quarter, fourth quarter? Is it longer term? We will make adjustments around the longer term impact of the economy over time. But right now our focus is providing that essential service. Taking care of our customers, taking care of our communities with donations from our foundation. And then of course focused on the safety of our employees. Well, as everybody is talking about that. We're going to get into this normal but nobody really knows. It's there's so many unknowns of what that really means whether you're talking about for the other Economy for businesses for a millions of people who are out of jobs and we don't know how long this is going to go along. So as the CEO of Duke, how are you navigating through all of this given the unknowns so that you can maintain and also grow Duke Energy Susie, when you're in the midst of something like this a crisis, the priorities become very clear very quickly. And those priorities are take care of your customers and take care of your employees and then Make sure that you're doing the essential services that go with that and thinking about the scenarios and the outcomes that you might think about over the longer term. Things like financial results, things like Policy changes whether it involves our employees or our customers. But we are in the early part of this event, and I think keeping that clear priority on essential service and safety of employees is where all of our focus is And then we will run our business or run our business well responding to longer term economic impacts as we go forward, because we understand the importance of delivering certainty to our investors as well. And so we will have good discussions with investors first quarter and second quarter on what we see in our business. And we have a demonstrated track record at Duke of responding to extraordinary events in a way that finds that right balance between customers investors and that's our commitment in this event as well. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Lynn Good says Duke is focused on maintaining their "essential service" for customers relying on power in their homes.

Duke Energy CEO: Financial concerns secondary to employees, customers during pandemic

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