PowerSeraya believes in continuous engagement with its many stakeholders to keep abreast of the latest developments and to communicate our views to all parties with whom we interact. These are just some of the more specific ways in which PowerSeraya engages its main stakeholders. Our stakeholder engagement allows us to gain input and feedback on our business, clarify perceptions of our company and foster constructive relationships for the benefit of our business as well as the community. We engage our stakeholders in various ways ranging from formal meetings, dialogue sessions, customer events and initiatives with the community.

• - Communities

  • PowerSeraya sees itself as part of the climate change solution and regularly engages the community through the environmental events it has organised, supported or participated in. Our engagement with the community also extends to meaningful causes that benefit society.
    
    Every year Greenridge Secondary School, an adopted school of PowerSeraya Ltd, organises its annual outreach programme based on an environmental theme. This is one of the means through which we educate the Zhenghua community about the environment so they hopefully also become ‘green’ advocates. For details, refer to Section 8: ‘The Environment and the Community’.

  • Further, we held a stakeholders’ consultative session to gather feedback from the general public on the Clean Development Mechanism Project (800MW Natural Gas Combined Cycle Plant) which we are in the process of registering as a CDM project (follow this link to view the topics raised and answered during this session:
    

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• - Government Agencies and
  Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)

  • Our main engagement with NGOs and government bodies is our contact with the National Environment Agency (NEA), JTC, the Energy Market Company and the Energy Market Authority. We are in discussions with NEA on a proposed Responsible Environmental Agents Programme, which will launch in FY09/10. We also work with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, Waterways Watch Society, and the Singapore Environmental Council.

• - Customers

  • We run energy efficiency and educational events to carry out our product responsibility beyond the provision of safe and reliable electricity. At these events, customers gain an insight into electricity generation and learn about energy conservation solutions. It is through these events that we also gain customer feedback, learn about their concerns and even get updates on the latest market news. Please refer to Section 10: ‘Product Responsibility’.

  • From April 2007 to December 2007, a customer satisfaction survey was conducted by Seraya Energy to gather feedback. Details of the customer survey are also in Section 10: ‘Product Responsibility’.

• - Shareholders, Management and Staff

  • The Board of Directors holds quarterly meetings with the senior management team to get updates on the progress of the company’s performance, discuss and develop the business strategy, develop medium- to long-term plans and provide advice on problems and challenges.
    
    Our staff management dialogues are a means for the management to update the staff every quarter on the company’s performance, understand the concerns of staff and elicit feedback.

    
    The Business Group Retreat is an annual event held by each group to discuss plans and goals for the coming financial year. The outcomes of the retreats are used as inputs for the Management Retreat where corporate-wide business plans and goals are discussed by the senior management team. The outcomes of these discussions are then shared with the business groups so that amendments to plans are updated.
    
    Finally, to tie these activities in with our sustainability as a business and for the environment, the Sustainability Reporting Team (SRT) met seven times over the report preparation period (Sep 08 to Feb 09). For details of the process undergone by the SRT, please refer to Section 2: ‘Scope of Sustainability Report’

• - Suppliers

  • PowerSeraya participates in the annual V94.3A/84.3A Asia Pacific User Group Meeting where users of the Siemens V94.A/83.A machinery share their experiences and knowledge on the operations and maintenance of this machine used in power plants.
    
    Further, we procure our supplies from renewable or environmentally responsible sources. As an indicator of our commitment to green energy, we are consciously working with business and technological partners to explore low carbon projects as part of our forward plans.

• - Employees and their trade unions

  • At PowerSeraya, all employees have the freedom to join the UPAGE (Union of Power and Gas Employees). There is also freedom for collective bargaining by the UPAGE on matters concerning employees. Since FY07, 54% of the workforce is covered by the collective agreement and 75% of PowerSeraya’s workforce are UPAGE members. We maintain a close and productive working relationship with UPAGE. Both the management and UPAGE are committed to working together in a strategic alliance to meet challenges, resolve issues and seize opportunities with a view to enhancing business competitiveness and the well-being of the employees. PowerSeraya takes a highly consultative approach and seeks to achieve win-win solutions by engaging UPAGE to share information, discuss business strategies and plans, while also taking into consideration each other’s constraints, concerns and interests.   

    
    
    On average, UPAGE and the management meet four times a year. Two of these meetings discuss bonus payout and salary increment for employees. In addition to these, at the start of the financial year, the Management will share with UPAGE the business plans and goals for the year so that both parties are aligned.
    
    On an informal basis, these two parties also hold meetings to discuss and resolve issues that may arise. There were altogether eight Union-Management meetings in FY06/07 to FY07/08. A significant milestone achieved during the reporting period was the signing of the Collective Agreement (2007-2010) between PowerSeraya and UPAGE on 30 August 2007.
    
    The Collective Agreement, which came into effect on 1 July 2007, reiterated both the company and the union’s commitment to protect employees through a status quo arrangement, given the impending divestment of the company.
    
    Subsequent to the signing of the agreement, following strong support from UPAGE, variations were made to the Collective Agreement in March 2008. These included restructuring the multiple leave schemes into one single scheme for internal equity and higher productivity; upward adjustments to the minimum and maximum points of the non-executive salary grade structure; and changes to the annual variable bonus matrix to reflect higher bonus quantum for higher company performance in ROE. The key concern with the Union was how to ensure that the employees get a fair amount of compensation in exchange for reducing their leave entitlement. The Management took into consideration this key concern and did its best to accede to the Union’s proposed quantum, including acceding to the unions’ proposal to introduce a 20-year and 40-year Long Service Award in addition to the existing ones.  The UPAGE similarly sought to understand the management issues related to the existing leave structure and communicated the merits of the proposed leave scheme to its union members to establish buy-in. The efforts of both parties paid off with the amendment of the leave scheme approved in March 08. The company also proposed changes to the overtime scheme but was prepared to postpone the discussion of this scheme upon the union’s concern that they were not ready to consider such a scheme.  On medical benefits, the company proposed streamlining the current two medical schemes into one scheme for internal equity and external competitiveness but decided to review the proposal given several concerns expressed by the union.

    
    Since the announcement by our owners to divest the three power generating companies (including PowerSeraya) in June 2007, we had made conscious efforts to feature the Union in our quarterly Staff Management Dialogues to inform staff of the union-led initiatives and to also gather any concerns or issues raised by the staff on divestment.