Investors

Back

Dear Shareholders of VST AB,

Over the five years of its activities, VST AB has been firmly and consistently seeking its ambitious goals. The progress has been particularly significant in 2008 including increased awareness of the company, customer satisfaction with the services provided by the company, speeded up issuance of technical specifications, and cutting of costs of electricity for internal needs. The name of the company is linked with the features of a company that invests constantly, is modern, reliable, stable and results-oriented, and provides charity and support. Surveys have shown that VST is perceived as the best company providing regulated services.

It should be noted that the achievements of the company must be evaluated as a result of teamwork. The objectives would not have been attained without the employees‘ contribution, without their dedicated work throughout the year.

The strategic objectives of the company remain the same in 2009. The company will continue investing in its electrical facilities, seek to improve the service quality, fight thefts of transformer oil and wires, reduce costs of electricity for internal needs, and improve the existing services and technologies as well as implement new ones.

Technical specifications issued on time

I can state with pleasure that as much as 99% oftechnical specifications are issued on time, i. e. within 10 working days. This indicator has improved by 7% compared to 2007. With this strategic aim – to improve the technical specifications‘ issuance indicator – in view, seminars on connecting new customers were organised and audits of the process of connecting new customers were conducted at the company‘s branches in 2008. It is obvious that appropriate measures have been employed in this work and now we can enjoy its results. It is important to maintain such performance levels this year and in the coming years.

Considerable electricity cost cutting for internal needs

For several years already, the efficiency-oriented company has been reducing electricity costs and the expenditure for electricity for internal needs. Last year the annual electric power costs were cut by 0.42 percentage points. This has been achieved by systematic checks of electricity meters – the actual rate of checks was higher than the target rate. Old meters were replaced with new ones. Last year, the number of meters replaced has increased by 25% compared with 2007. With this aim in view, analyses of electricity consumption were made, obsolete current metering equipment was replaced, and since the metering equipment is installed externally, a number of cases of illegal use of electricity were revealed. Maintenance work on medium-voltage transformers was carried out as well as the shortening of electric lines and the laying of underground and overhead cables.

Theft prevention: an important task

Thieves can inflict great damage to society, the environment, and any enterprise. 173 thefts were committed in the territory served by VST in 2008. More than 3 tons of aluminium wires and approx. 26 tons of transformer oil were stolen; 41 transformers were damaged. Power supply was disrupted to over 1,000 customers due to thefts. Thus theft prevention is a very important area of the company‘s operations. The economic situation and market trends have direct influence over the number of thefts and explain the situation – the number of thefts of transformer oil increases considerably along with the rise in fuel prices, and this was the case also in 2008. Different methods are employed to fight thefts: the company cooperates with the police, there is a free hotline, etc. The criminal situation in the country can worsen in 2009 with the forecast of a deepening recession, therefore, the company faces new challenges in this field of activity this year.

Our goal: to improve the reliability of supply

Ensuring the reliable supply of electric power to customers is the priority and the main task of VST AB. The company seeks to minimise the values of key reliability indicators – the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI).

For this purpose, an analysis of equipment failures was made in 2008, which enabled the company to identify the equipment classes characterised by the highest failure rate. Accordingly, more investments were earmarked for such equipment. VST’s branches were involved in this work – they made analyses of the equipment operated by them, identifying the lines and 10/0.4 kV transformer stations in which failures are repeatedly recorded. This process was followed by inspections and the elimination of the defects. Quarterly discussions of results with the heads of branches were organised, focussing on the failures and corrective measures taken. Monitoring of the power supply recovery times enabled to identify long-lasting disruptions; explanations were demanded from responsible branches. These measures had a positive effect on the improvement of the quality of the electricity supply to customers.

Visibility of the company and customer satisfaction are increasing

The visibility of VST has increased in 2008, achieving 93% among residents and 99% among companies. The absolute majority of companies both know the company and define its profile correctly. The results of the survey show that VST is ahead of many other service providers by a number of features. out in order to increase customer satisfaction with VST‘s services. In 2008, two centres were opened upon renovation (Prienai and Mažeikiai). The customers are constantly informed about the company‘s activities and services in the national and regional periodicals as well as in the company‘s website. A “secret customer“ test was carried out in order to find out how the customers visiting VST‘s customer service centres or calling the company are served; this helped identify problematic areas and implement improvements.

The company as a socially responsible organisation allots support to children’s care homes, sponsors festivities organised by municipalities, seeks to protect the environment, organises a campaign for children “Electricity as a Friend but Not a Playmate” (with 26 schools in Western Lithuania covered by the campaign in 2008), organises a social campaign for the company‘s employees, which involves also their family members and which seeks to contribute to social welfare by common efforts. Last autumn‘s campaign ”To Live a Brighter Life“ was very popular among the employees – each VST division contributed to the life of its community in one way or another.

The works accomplished in 2008 enabled the company to attain the set aim: the customers named VST as the best company providing regulated services.

We are going to achieve still higher efficiency of our operations next year, expecting to exceed both our own expectations and expectations of the society.

Sincerely,

Aidas Ignatavičius
Chief Executive Officer

2009

To top