Dominion (company)
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| Type | Public (NYSE: D) |
|---|---|
| Founded | Virginia, USA (1983) |
| Headquarters |  Richmond, Virginia, USA |
| Key people | Thomas Farrell (Chairman, CEO) Thomas Chewning (CFO) Mark McGettrick (Exec. VP) |
| Industry | Electric utility |
| Products | Electricity Natural gas |
| Revenue | ▼ US$15,674,000,000 (2007) |
| Operating income | ▲ US$5,567,000,000 (2007) |
| Net income | ▲ US$2,539,000,000 (2007) |
| Total assets | ▼ US$39,123,000,000 (2007) |
| Total equity | ▼ US$9,663,000,000 (2007) |
| Employees | 17,000 (2007) |
| Website | http://www.dom.com |
| [1][2][3] | |
Dominion, formerly Dominion Resources, (NYSE: D) is a power and energy company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, that supplies electricity, natural gas, or other energy services to homes in Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and eastern North Carolina. Dominion also has generation facilities in Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
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[edit] Corporate overview
The company’s asset portfolio includes 27,000 megawatts of power generation, 6,000 miles (9,700 km) of electric transmission lines, 14,000 miles (23,000 km) of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 1.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe) of natural gas and oil reserves. Dominion also owns the nation’s largest underground natural gas storage system and operates more than 975 billion cubic feet (bcf) of storage capacity. The company’s Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal on the Chesapeake Bay is one of the nation's largest and busiest facilities of its kind. Dominion serves more than 5 million retail energy customers in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the U.S.
[edit] Footprint
As of 2007[update]:
- Headquarters: Richmond, Va.
- Assets: $52.7 billion
- Operating revenue: $18 billion
- Fortune 500 rank: 140
- Employees: 17,400 in 17 states and the District of Columbia
[edit] History
Dominion is one of the nation's oldest and most prominent electric power and natural gas companies. Its corporate roots reach back to the Colonial era through 235 predecessor companies that operated, among other lines of business, canal and river barging, street lighting, railways and electric trolleys.
In 1909, Dominion began operating as an investor-owned electric utility under the name Virginia Electric & Power Company (VEPCO). In 1983, Dominion Resources, Inc., was incorporated as the holding company for its legacy electric utility. Two years later, VEPCO was divided into three operating divisions, Virginia Power, North Carolina Power, and West Virginia Power [4]. The West Virginia Power division was later sold to UtiliCorp United, but Dominion retained ownership of the Mount Storm Generation facility in West Virginia.
In 1986, Dominion entered into one of its largest territory expansions by purchasing the Virginia distribution territory of Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO), which covered much of northern Virginia.[4]
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Dominion initiated a series of expansions into regulated and non-regulated energy businesses, both domestically and internationally. During that era, the company also established itself as a world-class operator of nuclear power stations.
Following a merger in 2000 with Consolidated Natural Gas Co. of Pittsburgh, Dominion began producing both natural gas and electricity and transporting the energy over an extensive network of pipes and wires serving energy-intensive markets in the Northeastern quadrant of the U.S.
In 2007, as part of another effort to refocus on core electric and gas operations, Dominion sold most of its Houston-based natural gas and oil exploration and production business for pre-tax proceeds of nearly $14 billion.
[edit] Operations
The realigned Dominion enterprise has three operating businesses:
- Dominion Generation
- Regulated power generation
- Unregulated merchant generation
- Dominion Energy
- Natural gas distribution
- Natural gas transmission and storage
- Producer services
- Natural gas/oil exploration & production
- Dominion Virginia Power
- Electric distribution
- Electric transmission
- Unregulated retail
More than 40 percent of Dominion’s total electric production comes from emissions-free nuclear and renewable power. The rest of the company’s electric output comes from coal, natural gas and a small amount of oil. Renewable energy sources, primarily wind and biomass, and conservation and efficiency programs will play an increasingly important role in meeting future energy needs and minimizing the company’s environmental footprint.
By 2015, Dominion will have invested $3.5 billion to reduce air emissions by more than 80 percent at its existing generating stations.
Dominion’s social investment program is carried out primarily through the Dominion Foundation. For the period 2004–07, Foundation giving totaled $43.4 million to almost 4,500 charitable organizations in the communities where Dominion does business.
[edit] Expansion plans
To ensure reliable and adequate supplies of energy to meet growing customer demand, Dominion has embarked on a $12 billion infrastructure investment program — the largest in company history. From 2008–10, Dominion’s capital spending plans include:
- Natural gas pipeline and storage projects, including expansion of the Cove Point LNG facility in southern Maryland;
- Customer service and gas distribution investments;
- Oil/gas exploration and production investments;
- Electric distribution and transmission upgrades and construction;
- Renewable and baseload power generation construction, and efficiency and environmental enhancements at existing facilities; and
- Conservation and energy efficiency program expansions.
Demand growth in Dominion’s home state of Virginia is expected to be especially strong over the coming decade. The company’s Powering Virginia strategy relies on a combination of energy management, production and delivery to address this challenge and reduce environmental impacts at the same time.
[edit] Controversy
Dominion Resources has been involved in seeking legislation to deregulate retail electric service in Virginia. In 2007, the Virginia General Assembly adopted legislation to "reregulate" but granted various rate concessions in connection with this new legislation, including the indexing of rates to measurers of inflation, thereby reducing the need to seek the Virginia State Corporation Commission's approval of rate increases.
The Dominion Political Action Committee has been very active in donating to Virginia candidates. In 2007, the Dominion PAC has donated $427,148 with 43% going to Republicans and 56% to Democrats.[5]
There are also controversies surrounding the Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP subsidiary, described in a separate article.
[edit] Environmental record
Dominion Resources Incorporated was 19th on the Political Economy Research Institute's (PERI) 2002 Toxic 100. The company was responsible for 15.15 million pounds of toxic air emissions in 2002.[6] In December 2007, a settlement between the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Dominion Energy of Brayton Point called for the company's power generating plant to install new closed cycle cooling towers that provided significant protection to aquatic organisms in Mount Hope Bay, which flows into Narragansett Bay. The 2007 settlement resolved an ongoing dispute that began in 2003. The EPA issued a final discharge permit called a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) for the Brayton Point Power Station requiring significant reductions in thermal discharges to, and water intake from, Mount Hope Bay.[7] In 2002, Dominion was responsible for 1,110,703 pounds of gastrointestinal or Liver Toxicant emissions, 1,440,000 pounds of Musculoskeletal Toxicant emissions, and 1,489,763 pounds of suspected respiratory toxicant emissions, and 1,478,383 pounds of suspected skin or sense organ toxicant emissions among other emissions that are suspected to be hazardous.[8]
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Dominion History". http://www.dom.com/about/history.jsp. Retrieved on 2008-08-03.
- ^ "Dominion Resources, Inc.". Google Finance. http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:D. Retrieved on 2008-08-03.
- ^ "2007 Annual Report" (PDF). Dominion Resources. http://www.dom.com/investors/annual2007/domannual.pdf. Retrieved on 2008-08-03.
- ^ a b "Dominion Resources, Inc.". FundingUniverse. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Dominion-Resources-Inc-Company-History.html. Retrieved on 2008-11-25.
- ^ http://www.vpap.org/donors/results_level2.cfm?kEY=ORH000201250 Retrieved 2007-10-05.
- ^ PERI - Political Economy Research Institute: Toxic 100 Table
- ^ Settlement Will Spur Major Environmental Improvements at Brayton Point Power Plant | Newsroom | US EPA
- ^ Environmental Releases for DOMINION RESOURCES INC. YORKTOWN POWER STATION
[edit] External links
- Dominion company home page
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