In Year of Great Challenges, Vistra Helped Meet Critical Community Need and Supported Customers and Employees in 2020
In 2020, Vistra committed over $2 million in direct COVID-19 relief and supported 12,400 customers with $3.1 million in bill payment assistance. The company also pledged $10 million for social justice and equity initiatives over five years. Key donations included $500,000 to the National Urban League and $450,000 to Historically Black Colleges. Vistra emphasized diversity and inclusion by launching new initiatives and maintaining strong supplier diversity. Acknowledging employee contributions, a one-time bonus and an additional paid day off were granted in December 2020.
- Committed over $2 million in COVID-19 relief.
- Supported 12,400 customers with $3.1 million in bill payment assistance.
- Pledged $10 million over five years for social justice initiatives.
- Donated $500,000 to the National Urban League and $450,000 to HBCUs.
- Launched diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and enhanced supplier diversity.
- None.
IRVING, Texas, Dec. 31, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As 2020 comes to a close, Vistra is reflecting on how, in this year that has tested the nation on dual fronts, the company followed its core principles to respond. Vistra and its employees adapted and shifted strategies throughout the pandemic to support customers and communities and maintain the essential power to keep this nation running. And Vistra reaffirmed and extended efforts to support the advancement of diverse communities, minority-, women-, and veteran-owned small businesses, and equity in education.
"This year has handed us many lessons, chief among them being that corporations must expand their purpose beyond just shareholders to a more diverse set of stakeholders, and they must stand up and be part of the solution," said Curt Morgan, chief executive officer of Vistra. "At Vistra, this means investing in our employees, putting customers first, and making a genuine effort to better the communities where we live, work, and serve. No one could have predicted the adversity 2020 would bring, but I'm proud of the way this company responded. Our teams delivered with strength and expertise and dug deep to find new ways to support our customers, communities, and each other."
A look at the numbers reveals the broad extent of Vistra's community and customer support in 2020:
- Committed
$2 million in direct COVID-19 relief - Donated money to more than 100 agency partners
- Assisted neighbors in over 50 cities
- Supported 12,400 customers with bill payment assistance through
$3.1 million in donations - Waived late fees, extended payment dates, and arranged payment plans for customers
- Bridged the digital divide with 2,000 computer donations to underserved youth through its partnership with Comp-U-Dopt
- Provided nearly 180,000 masks and face coverings to employees and their family members, area hospitals, and schools
- Provided critical access to meals through more than
$500,000 in contributions to food banks and food pantries across the country
Additionally, Vistra pledged
$500,000 to support the work of the National Urban League in eight cities$450,000 to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities$250,000 to college scholarship funds supporting Black and Hispanic students- More than
$100,000 to advance Black and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce
Within the workplace, Vistra also doubled-down on its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. The company launched multiple initiatives, including hosting nearly 30 listening sessions on race, creating a diversity, equity, and inclusion advisory council, enhancing its employee resource groups, training hiring managers, eliminating degree requirements for certain positions, initiating career advancement pathways for employees without degrees, and expanding diverse external recruiting efforts through new relationships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Vistra similarly maintained its strong commitment to supplier diversity, spending nearly
"I have never been more proud to work with a group of people. Despite 2020's challenges, our team members continued to provide an essential product, electricity, and helped our customers and communities while, at the same time, we collectively looked inside of our own walls to take care of our people and become a better and stronger workplace," Morgan added.
Vistra appreciates the dedication of its team members, many of whom continued to report to their physical work locations to perform our essential services, while others managed a new and challenging work-from-home environment, including balancing the education of their children. COVID-19 and the company's drive for social equity and justice also added countless special projects for many of our employees in addition to their standard workload. In recognition of these extraordinary efforts, Vistra rewarded all employees with a meaningful one-time bonus and an additional paid day off in December. This investment in Vistra employees, a thank you, is in addition to the company's annual incentive bonus paid out every spring.
About Vistra
Vistra (NYSE: VST) is a leading, Fortune 275 integrated retail electricity and power generation company based in Irving, Texas, providing essential resources for customers, commerce, and communities. Vistra combines an innovative, customer-centric approach to retail with safe, reliable, diverse, and efficient power generation. The company brings its products and services to market in 20 states and the District of Columbia, including six of the seven competitive wholesale markets in the U.S. and markets in Canada and Japan, as well. Serving nearly 5 million residential, commercial, and industrial retail customers with electricity and natural gas, Vistra is the largest competitive residential electricity provider in the country and offers over 50 renewable energy plans. The company is also the largest competitive power generator in the U.S. with a capacity of approximately 39,000 megawatts powered by a diverse portfolio, including natural gas, nuclear, solar, and battery energy storage facilities. In addition, the company is a large purchaser of wind power. The company is currently constructing a 400-MW/1,600-MWh battery energy storage system in Moss Landing, California, which will be the largest of its kind in the world when it comes online. Vistra is guided by four core principles: we do business the right way, we work as a team, we compete to win, and we care about our stakeholders, including our customers, our communities where we work and live, our employees, and our investors. Learn more about our environmental, social, and governance efforts and read the company's sustainability report at https://www.vistracorp.com/sustainability/.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The information presented herein includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the industry and markets in which Vistra Corp. ("Vistra") operates and beliefs of and assumptions made by Vistra's management, involve risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and are not guarantees of future performance, that could significantly affect the financial results of Vistra. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, that are presented herein, or in response to questions or otherwise, that address activities, events or developments that may occur in the future, including such matters as activities related to our financial or operational projections, the potential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows, projected synergy, value lever and net debt targets, capital allocation, capital expenditures, liquidity, projected Adjusted EBITDA to free cash flow conversion rate, dividend policy, business strategy, competitive strengths, goals, future acquisitions or dispositions, development or operation of power generation assets, market and industry developments and the growth of our businesses and operations (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases, or the negative variations of those words or other comparable words of a future or forward-looking nature, including, but not limited to: "intends," "plans," "will likely," "unlikely," "believe," "confident", "expect," "seek," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "will," "shall," "should," "could," "may," "might," "predict," "project," "forecast," "target," "potential," "goal," "objective," "guidance" and "outlook"), are forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Although Vistra believes that in making any such forward-looking statement, Vistra's expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, any such forward-looking statement involves uncertainties and risks that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in or implied by any such forward-looking statement, including, but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions (including changes in interest rates) or changes in political conditions or federal or state laws and regulations; (ii) the ability of Vistra to execute upon the contemplated strategic, capital allocation, and performance initiatives and to successfully integrate acquired businesses; (iii) actions by credit ratings agencies; (iv) the severity, magnitude and duration of pandemics, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting effects on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows; and (v) those additional risks and factors discussed in reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Vistra from time to time, including the uncertainties and risks discussed in the sections entitled "Risk Factors" and "Forward-Looking Statements" in Vistra's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2019 and any subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.
Any forward-looking statement speaks only at the date on which it is made, and except as may be required by law, Vistra will not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible to predict all of them; nor can Vistra assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement.
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