John Walker, President and CEO, FortisBC

John Walker, President and CEO, FortisBC | BCBusiness
FortisBC president and CEO John Wallker says while the company has struggled due to a shaky economic climate, he looks forward to the future.

FortisBC president and CEO John Walker on the company’s growth after its repatriation and subsequent rebranding.

There are plenty of risks when you’re in the business of dangerous commodities, but as president and CEO of FortisBC since 2010, John Walker rests easy that market demand isn’t one of them.

“The thing I would hang my hat on is that we’re going to need electricity and natural gas for a long time,” he says, before adding, “although, any time you try to predict the future, there’s an element of risk.”

FortisBC is the brand name that encompasses FortisBC Holdings Inc. (which includes three FortisBC gas companies) and FortisBC Inc. (its electric company). FortisBC’s gas operations serve upwards of one million residential and commercial customers, while its integrated electric utilities serve over 162,000 customers directly and indirectly through wholesale utilities, and operate four regulated hydroelectric generating plants and approximately 7,000 kilometres of transmission and distribution power lines.

In 2005, the former Terasen Inc. was bought by Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc., before being repatriated in 2007 by Fortis Inc., based in Newfoundland. In March 2011, the Terasen group of companies was rebranded under the FortisBC umbrella. “Before that, I was always handing out two business cards, and the message was somewhat fragmented,” recalls Walker.

This year, FortisBC Holdings Inc. climbed a spot on our list of top revenue earners to number 22, while FortisBC Inc. jumped from 92 to 89. By the end of 2011 the FortisBC companies had $6.9 billion in assets in B.C. and 2,300 employees, delivering 22 per cent of the energy used in the province, which, according to FortisBC, is more than any other utility provider in B.C.

Further cementing its place as a market leader, B.C. is the only Fortis subsidiary to be aggressively developing alternative energies, including natural gas for transportation, biomethane and school retrofit programs. FortisBC Inc. is also the most vertically integrated, leading its sister companies in power generation with its own assets generating approximately 40 per cent of its own energy requirements.

Walker says, with pride, that 2011 was the company’s best year for electrical system performance in a decade, which reflected improved operational performance, ongoing vegetation management, fewer weather-related incidents and capital invested in key areas.

In 2011, FortisBC completed its $212-million liquefied natural gas storage facility on Vancouver Island, and pumped $105 million into its Okanagan Transmission Reinforcement Project. Construction on its $900-million Waneta Expansion hydroelectric generating facility is progressing, and in 2012 its $110-million Customer Care Enhancement Project, which includes new customer service centres in Prince George and Burnaby, was completed. “We want to own and manage the relationship between the company and our customers. That’s core to the Fortis philosophy,” says Walker.

Continued challenges exist in public policy, environmental policy and even building codes, though FortisBC’s biggest challenge remains the economic environment, since “all utilities sectors are really tied to a robust economy,” explains Walker. But as the country rebuilds its economic stability and with natural gas prices sitting around $2 – the lowest levels in a decade – Walker is excited about the future. “We’re quite blessed with an abundance of resources here, and quite a range of opportunity. Well-priced, reliable energy is very fundamental to a good economy, and I think we can continue to push ourselves forward.”