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[1] What business is the company in?
Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But as companies have diversified, merged and morphed, the lines aren’t as clear as they once were.
Not all companies with energy in their names are equally invested in energy. Many have diversified broadly into non-energy ventures. Duke Energy is an energy company. We have been for nearly a century, and our future success will play out in the vital, growing marketplace of world energy.
In North America and key regions around the world, our strategy is the same. We gather, process, transport, store and market natural gas. We design, build, own and operate electric generating facilities. We manage and trade energy. We provide millions of customers with reliable energy.
This integrated approach gives us the ability to avoid the market vulnerabilities of “pure plays” in our industry – the pure merchant generators or the pure traders. We pursue related lines of business, but always with a measured, disciplined approach. And as we have broadened our horizons, we have stuck close to our roots of energy expertise and experience.
We build our business on more than power plants and pipelines. We also build our business on relationships. We take a partnering approach with our customers, and focus on delivering solutions, solving problems and making a positive difference in their businesses. For example, to help our customers navigate the complexities of energy supply and demand for both natural gas and power, we have developed e-systems through which they can access energy information and complete transactions in real time.
Large or small, retail or wholesale, our customers have vastly different needs. But they all expect two things – reliable service and reasonable prices. We put all of our resources to work to make sure our customers get both.
RICHARD B. PRIORY
