Power company’s novel idea
Electricity distribution company SA Power Networks – formerly ETSA – has turned the business of annual reports on its head.
SAPN has opted for a friendly, easy-to-read old novel style that looks like your average bookshop fodder.
It even starts with the word “Imagine…”
The front cover carries the title: “The Power of Many”.
While it was tempting to laugh off this effort as a bit twee, the document takes the normally turgid offerings of an annual report and turns them into nine chapters of interesting – and informative – material.
Who would have thought that? An annual report that’s easy to understand and puts information in a relateable context.
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Each chapter is wrapped around a real person – Lucy of North Adelaide who’s volunteered for as smart meter trial, Kym the maintenance worker and Caroline the up-and-coming employee.
The chapter on managing peak demand starts; “It is late afternoon, the fourth day of a heatwave. The sun’s been beating hard all day and Mary has just returned home a little frazzled…”
The concept is the brainchild of Adelaide design studio Voice.
“The previous year’s report had focused on infrastructure and this year SAPN wanted to relate the story of how the infrastructure has an impact on people’s lives,” Voice’s principal Anthony de Leo told InDaily.
“From the concept of wanting to tell the story, we moved to the idea of presenting it as a novel.
“The novel gives a real human element to the story.”
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de Leo said the report is now also being used as a stand-alone document for SA Power Networks.
“It tells the story of the company, what it does, who it’s people are and what impact it has on the community.”
Stories aside, the detail is also there.
In just two pages it provides a snapshot of SAPN’s customer network and financial performance over the last six years.
SAPN, it says, has 735,529 residential customers, 99,004 small business customers and 21 large business customers.
From that customer base it deliver 3456 GWh to the residentials, 5487 GWh to small business and 1349 GWh to large businesses.
So, around two thirds of consumption is accounted for among small and large business-an interesting number given the debate about the impact of price rises.
And speaking of money – SAPN’s revenue has jumped 51 per cent from $914 million in 2007 to $1.385 billion in the 2012 calendar year.
Its gross profit has risen 69 per cent from $379 million in 2007 to $642 million in 2012.
SAPN’s capital expenditure more than doubled in the same period to $442 million.
It’s added more than 2000 kilometres of undergound line (now 19 per cent of the total) and employs a tick over 2000 people, several hundred more than five years ago.
As the book (sorry, annual report) says, it’s a big part of life in South Australia.
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