0%

☰

×

Spire Energy Logo

Energy in motion

People in motion

Service in motion

Performance in motion

Opportunities in motion

Ideas in motion

Our Story 2018

Energy in motion

At Spire, we’re always in motion, working to advance our people, our service and our performance by using our energy to explore new opportunities and innovative ideas for the future.

By leaning into what’s next for our industry, we’re redefining what it means to serve, and finding fresh ways to deliver value for our customers, communities and shareholders.

People in motion

“It all starts right here with us, and the culture of safety, inclusion and integrity we create. That culture is who we are.

And when we know who we are, it’s visible in everything we do and every decision we make.”

Joe Hampton
President, Spire Alabama, Gulf Coast and Mississippi

Read more

Defining our culture

This year, we leaned into who we are as a unified, mission-driven company and clearly defined what it means to be Spire.

Spire employee icon
3,300
voices shared
Tim S., Service Technician

In our first companywide culture survey, 3,300 Spire employees had the opportunity to share their voices, providing a clear view of where our culture is today, and helping us establish where we plan to go in the future as a collaborative, caring company.

Nathan H., Construction Supervisor

Living Spire

We changed our performance review and hiring processes to reflect our Spire Values and Living Spire Behaviors. These behaviors set a new standard for current and future employees, showing that how we get the job done is just as important as the end result.

And to further define who we are and what we stand for, we reimagined our Code of Conduct, placing even greater emphasis on our core values of safety, inclusion and integrity.

Alvin D., Crewman

Embracing our values: safety

We held our fifth annual companywide Safety Summit in St. Louis, reinforcing that at Spire everything starts with safety—a value we hold deeply.

Our unwavering commitment to safety yielded notable results in 2018, with employee injuries throughout the company decreasing by 18 percent, continuing a five-year trend.

Decreasing time away due to injury

Number of days by fiscal year

Decreasing time away to injury graph

Totals shown exclude Spire Gulf and Spire Mississippi for the years 2014–2016 prior to ownership by Spire Inc.

Prita M., GIS Analyst II

Embracing our values: inclusion

We celebrate differences, embracing a workforce full of diverse backgrounds and unique perspectives. And, we believe in treating everyone with care and respect.

To emphasize how strongly we believe this, we declared inclusion as one of our core values, and backed it up by hiring our first compliance and diversity lead.

Spire’s Chief Executive Officer signed the CEO in Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge, joining more than 450 CEOs throughout the country who are committed to advancing the inclusion of all employees in the workplace.

We’re developing a comprehensive inclusion and diversity strategy, slated to launch in 2019, which includes training for all Spire employees on recognizing unconscious biases. Our new vendor diversity program aims to increase partnerships with qualified minority and women-owned businesses, ensuring our supply chain is inclusive as well.

Michael G., Special Adjustments

Embracing our values: integrity

We believe in doing what’s right, every time. That’s why integrity is one of our core values, and it’s also why we launched a robust, diverse and cross-functional Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program.

Comprised of four quadrants—Community Investments (Spire Serves), Environmental/Sustainability, Governance and Human Resources—our CSR efforts have allowed us to identify and manage environmental, social and governance risks; enhance our civic leadership; and focus our investments within the communities we serve. We’re committed to this strategy because we understand our success is directly tied to the growth of our communities.

Spire donation icon
$4.8M
donated

This year, we donated more than $4.8 million in Spire Foundation grants, matching gifts, sponsorships, as well as civic and association memberships that target our five key areas of focus: health and human services, civic and community development, education, environmental sustainability, and disaster relief.

Spire raised icon
$1.3M
raised
Courtney V., Associate General Counsel

We’re living our mission, advancing communities and enriching lives by raising more than $1.3 million for United Way through employee and Spire Foundation gifts.

We reimagined how we use DollarHelp funds this year, allocating $236,000 from the program to help low-income customers reconnect their natural gas service earlier in the season and avoid the stress of waiting for state and federal energy assistance funds to become available.

Spire volunteer icon
800
employees volunteered
Lindsay L., Manager, Tax Planning

As part of the CSR program, every Spire employee receives eight hours of paid volunteer time to serve their communities in a companywide initiative we call “Day for Good.”

This year, in July and August alone, more than 800 Spire employees volunteered across our service territories, increasing participation by more than 55 percent over last year.

In addition, all Spire employees have access to $2,500 per fiscal year through matching gifts or our Dollars for Doers program. This year, nearly $120,000 was requested by employees to support the charities they hold dear.

Sharing our impact

Our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) journey reflects a path of innovation, commitment and responsibility that began more than 160 years ago. Today, we’re redefining how we serve, and using our energy to advance communities and enrich lives.

For the first time ever, we’ll issue a CSR Report in 2019, showing how we responsibly manage and account for our impact on society while focusing on creating shared value between our company and our stakeholders.

“I love my city. So, when I heard we were rehabbing a local gym that helps keep kids out of gang life, I knew exactly where I was spending my Day for Good.

We repainted the walls, remodeled the bathrooms and landscaped their yard. Now every kid at the gym knows that at Spire, we care about their success.”

Nikki Russell
Gas Man SIT Construction

Growing the Spire team

We filled 600 jobs across all our locations in FY18, including 311 new positions. By bringing the right talent into our teams, we’re positioning our company for continued growth.

Set to launch in early 2019, our new employee onboarding program is designed to welcome, inspire and engage new employees. At its core, this program will make sure our new colleagues know Spire’s mission and values, and understand how they contribute to collective success.

Spire jobs icon
600
jobs filled
Nelson C., Serviceperson

“When you’re out there serving our communities, people take notice—especially prospective employees. Lately, I’ve noticed one of the first things candidates mention is how inspired they are by the good we do in our communities.”

Nicole Fondren
Manager, Talent Acquisition

Spire leaders icon
290
leaders inspired

Our award-winning Leading Spire Series continues to educate and inspire frontline managers, providing 290 leaders so far with the tools and resources they need to grow and positively influence others.

“I’ve gone through leadership training before, but the Leading Spire Series was different. I learned that great leaders focus on more than growing their own careers—they help those they lead grow, too.”

Ashley Mitchell
Manager, Public Improvement

Service in motion

“When we bring energy to new communities, we’re growing more than our business—we’re growing local economies. It’s all connected. And when our communities succeed, we all succeed.

That’s what energy does. It provides growth, opportunity and endless potential for the future.”

Nick Popielski
Vice President, Business and Economic Development

Read more

Serving more customers

We’ve committed to growing organically, improving and expanding the services we provide to our customers. We also make the most of every opportunity to reach new homes and businesses. For the fourth year in a row, these efforts yielded results, with our customer base increasing by nearly 7,300 in 2018.

Spire pump icon
11,058
new meters installed
Grady W., I&S Mechanic

“We had another strong year for new meters installed, improving last year’s record by two percent.

Through strategic gas line extensions, we’re bringing energy to homes and businesses in new markets across our service territories.”

Brenda Linderer
Director, Business Development - Missouri

Keeping our communities safe

Safety continues to drive how we operate our business. This year, we achieved historic results across all our territories.

We upgraded more miles of pipeline, improved leak response times, increased damage prevention awareness and reduced leaks across our system.

Our record-breaking year in these areas further demonstrates that at Spire, safety comes first—always.

We brought even safer, more reliable energy to homes and businesses across our territories, upgrading 382 miles of pipeline in Alabama, Mississippi and Missouri, a 7 percent increase from last year.

“With more miles of pipeline upgraded, we decreased leaks per 1,000 miles of main by 24 percent across all our territories and reduced overall methane emissions.”

Craig Hoeferlin
Vice President, Operations Services

We improved our leak response time for the third year in a row to an average of 26.8 minutes, a 5.5 percent improvement from last year.

By increasing our public education efforts and working closely with state legislators, we reduced third-party pipeline damage by 11 percent companywide.

98% of appointments kept

When customers needed us, we were there. Our overall appointment attainment rate was 98 percent, and this number continues to improve each year in every region we serve.

Improving our service through technology

We’re leveraging predictive technologies to manage our resources, improve the services we provide our customers and better anticipate areas of future growth and development.

Managing resources

Thinking one step ahead of the winter heating season, we’re using historical data to help us forecast and manage our workload during our busiest time of year.

Predicting growth

Using machine learning and iterative forecasting, we’re able to better anticipate areas of future growth and ensure our energy is in the right place at the right time.

Rodger R., Distribution System Controller

“Ultimately, we’re harnessing the power of data to create a very personalized and consistent customer experience. When we know what the customer needs and when they’ll need it, we can plan in advance and transform their entire experience.”

Christopher Gagliano
Managing Director, Customer Experience

1,000 smart phones deployed

Mobile safety alerts and workload planning tools will soon be available to all fieldworkers, with 1,000 smart phones deployed in 2018 and more to come in 2019. With all Spire employees connected via mobile devices, we’ll be able to improve safety and efficiency in the field.

Jon S., Construction Supervisor

Strengthening relationships

With the ability to track leads and opportunities remotely, Spire’s business development teams are strengthening their relationships with builders and developers onsite, identifying in real time how we can serve their properties with natural gas.

Kristina E., Manager, Large Commercial and Industrial Sales

Capitalizing on growth opportunities

Backed by the analytical power of Tableau, we can see areas of potential growth and deploy the right strategy and personnel to capitalize on opportunities to grow the business.

Connecting with customers

This year, we set out to further improve how we work with our customers, launching a pilot program that reimagines how we train, onboard and develop customer service agents.

“We’re taking a look at every customer touchpoint—from our website to our call centers—and analyzing how we can enhance the customer experience. In the end, our goal is to make it easier and faster to do business with us.”

Adriane Yates
Director, Customer Business Services

Deploying technology

New enhancements to our online account management tool, My Account, and interactive voice response technology provide our customers with additional self-service options, making it easier than ever to do business with us.

Saving energy

We expanded our energy efficiency program in Missouri, providing rebate incentives to nearly 12,000 eligible residential customers. By growing our program, we were able to help 16 percent more people than last year save money by managing energy efficiently in their homes.

Spire pump icon
8,590
residential rebates claimed

In Alabama, our residential rebates program grew by 15 percent in 2018, with 8,590 rebates claimed.

Brenda L., Director, Business Development-Missouri

Hosting educational summits

Combined Heat and Power technology is reliable, efficient and environmentally friendly. To communicate these benefits to large commercial and industrial businesses, we hosted several educational summits this year.

We’re currently working on implementing this technology with select large partners, while identifying future candidates.

Partnering with builders

We’ve made great strides with the builder community, anticipating their needs and responding with speed and efficiency. We plan to grow these relationships and develop new ways to quickly and effectively communicate with builders in the coming year.

“We’ve found that partnering with builders starts with making connections. Our plan is to strengthen these developing relationships by working with builders to unlock countless opportunities to provide homebuyers with all the benefits of affordable, reliable natural gas for years to come.”

Reynolds Anderson
Director, Business Development

Spire pump icon
4,600
units contracted

We worked with multi-family housing builders to bring more of Spire’s energy to the communities we serve, contracting 4,600 multi-family units in fiscal 2018—more than three times what we achieved last year.

Performance in motion

“We delivered another year of solid performance. We’ve kept our promises by achieving organic growth goals, investing in infrastructure and advancing our gas-related businesses.

We’ll continue to explore new and innovative ways to better serve our customers and communities while growing earnings and adding value for our shareholders.”

Scott Dudley
Managing Director, Investor Relations

Read more

4.5% earnings per share growth

With an outstanding year for Spire Marketing and a solid performance by our gas utilities, our net economic earnings per share were $3.72, representing 4.5 percent growth.

“By continuing to focus on our long-term growth strategy, we’re confident in our ability to grow net economic earnings per share by 4-7 percent annually over the longer term. We expect FY19 net economic earnings per share to be $3.70-$3.80.”

Steve Rasche
Chief Financial Officer

Growing net economic earnings

$ per share by fiscal year

Growing net economic earnings

Investing in growth

We increased our total capital spend by 14 percent in FY18, including $456 million for our gas utilities, focused on infrastructure upgrades.

For the third year in a row, we increased our investment in new business, with an $85 million outlay, representing an increase of more than 40 percent over FY17.

These investments enable us to extend our services to more homes and businesses and set the stage for future earnings growth.

Increasing capital spend

$ millions by fiscal year

Increasing capital spend

$2.6 billion to be invested

We continue to ramp up our capital investments to support both organic growth and our infrastructure upgrade programs. We plan to spend $2.6 billion over the five years ending in 2022, paced by increasing investments in our utilities as well as advancing our gas-related businesses.

Ramping up capital investments

$ millions by fiscal year

Ramping up capital investments

Investing in enterprise technology

We’re bringing our company together under one enterprise technology system in a multi-year project we call Spire One. Designed to align systems and processes, Spire One brings functional teams together throughout the company to improve efficiency, transparency and flexibility, giving us the technology infrastructure needed to find new and innovative ways to meet our customers’ needs.

“What I love about the Spire One project is it uses technology to bring people together. We’re listening to everyone’s voice and making sure we address their process needs through this system. As part of the Spire One team, I feel like I get to champion people every day.”

Brittany Mathis
Manager, Operational Accounting

Strengthening financial position

We improved our capital structure to 52.2 percent equity, up 350 basis points from FY17, while extending our $975 million credit facility for a full five years. We have ample liquidity and overall financial strength to support growth of all our businesses as they seek to meet the needs of our increasing customer base.

Increasing cash flow1

$ millions by fiscal year

Increasing cash flow

1 - Earnings before interest, income taxes, and depreciation and amortization

5.3% dividend increase

With a 5.3 percent increase for 2019, we’ve raised our common stock dividend for 16 consecutive years and extended our record for continuous dividend payments to 74 years, while maintaining a conservative but competitive payout ratio of 55–65 percent.

Our dividend growth reflects our solid financial performance and expectations for continued earnings growth.

Raising the dividend

$ per share by fiscal year

Raising the dividend

1 - Based on quarterly dividend of $0.5925 per share, effective January 3, 2019, annualized.

Opportunities in motion

“We’re increasing our investment and participation in the North American gas market at a time when the market is looking for more solution providers.

The reality is that Spire Marketing is a physical logistics business, and with all the growth in new production areas, and a growing gas market, Spire is positioned to be a leader.”

Pat Strange
President, Spire Marketing

Read more

Expanding Spire Marketing’s
geographic reach

With another outstanding year in FY18, Spire Marketing continues to perform and demonstrate the value of a diverse business portfolio. To build the team and expand its geographic reach and customer base even further, we’ve opened a new business center in Houston—the U.S. hub for natural gas trading.

“I knew that leaving St. Louis and accepting a position in Houston was the right move for my career. I’m excited to be in the gas-trading hub of America, and I can’t wait for the professional growth opportunities it will provide. I’m confident this was the right move for me, and for Spire.”

Kayla Hull
Gas Trader

Bringing new energy to the St. Louis region

With the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval, construction of the Spire STL Pipeline project is in motion. We plan to invest $210–$225 million in the pipeline, and expect it to start bringing new energy to the St. Louis region in 2019.

“We continue to advance our gas-related businesses and support long-term earnings growth. Whether it’s building a pipeline to bring a new supply of energy to the St. Louis region or expanding service offerings through our storage facilities, we’re well positioned to serve our customers better than ever.”

Scott Jaskowiak
President, Spire STL Pipeline
President, Spire Storage

Leveraging our expertise

Leaning into our vast knowledge of the natural gas industry, we acquired adjacent natural gas storage facilities in Wyoming. We’re currently in the process of integrating these facilities while investing in operational and physical improvements to expand capacity.

These strategic efforts position Spire Storage for success, setting the facility up to serve multiple regions and customers including utilities, power generators, pipelines, producers and marketers in the western U.S.

Ideas in motion

“We maintain our momentum by keeping an eye on where we’re headed, and that means testing new ideas. Our new Innovation Center and the pipe sealing robot are just a couple examples of how we’re using forward-looking technologies to lead the way in the energy industry.”

Suzanne Sitherwood
President and Chief Executive Officer

Read more

Taking a new approach

With a focus on the future, we’re investing in an Innovation Center—a creative space where all employees can collaborate, experiment and prototype new ideas centered around serving our customers even better, faster and smarter.

Minimizing disruptions to homes and businesses

Deployed in a pipe while natural gas is still flowing, the ULC Robotics CISBOT repair robot can seal pipe joints quickly, without disrupting the flow of gas or requiring substantial excavation work. This technology minimizes disruptions to homes and businesses and guards against future leaks.

The test pilot, launched this year in St. Louis, accomplished what normally would have been a 2.5-year project in 2.5 months, saving $2 million in utility personnel and construction equipment costs. The robot will continue to be used in 2019.

Detecting gas leaks

We’re working with Rebellion Photonics to explore a gas cloud imaging camera. The camera, which operates 24/7 and can detect and locate more than 30 types of gases, will help us quickly find and address vapor or liquid gas leaks. As the first utility to explore this technology, we see endless potential to improve the safety of our fieldworkers and the people we serve.

“Our focus on innovative technologies stems from our constant drive to work more efficiently and effectively. We want to reduce friction for our customers, create even safer processes for our employees, and give rise to an unparalleled experience for everyone.”

Ryan Hyman
Chief Information & Innovation Officer

Introducing an employee app

Through a partnership with an industry-leading workforce communications platform, we’ll soon be providing every Spire employee with timely, relevant information—right to their mobile phones. The app, called inSpire, will officially launch in 2019, offering one place to plan, create, publish and measure employee communications.

“Using the SocialChorus platform, we’re transforming how employees connect with the company, and with each other. We’re creating a community that’s designed to help employees feel informed, aligned and supported. When we feel this, we have the ability to do remarkable things.”

Jessica Willingham
Vice President, Communications and Marketing