Oncor Gets Healthy

DALLAS, May 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Heart Association named Oncor a Gold Fit-Friendly Company, recognizing the company's commitment to employee health and wellness and the steps it is taking to improve the fitness levels of its workforce and the communities it serves.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120402/DA80968LOGO)

"We realize the importance of a healthy workforce and have taken steps over the past few years to encourage and support employees working to achieve their fitness goals," Oncor Vice President of Corporate Affairs Debbie Dennis said. "We are proud to receive this recognition from the American Heart Association for our strides so far, and we're excited about the next healthy steps we'll take together moving forward."

Oncor continues to support its employees in achieving their health and fitness goals and has worked for several years to devote more company resources to the health and fitness of our communities through:

• Leadership in community fitness initiatives such as Dallas' Mayor's Youth Fitness Initiative and Fort Worth's Healthy City Initiative – The company committed $1 million in 2010 to the development and implementation of MyFi, aimed at improving the fitness levels of Dallas youth; and in March of this year, Oncor committed to help lead the City of Fort Worth's Healthy City Initiative.
• A Luke's Locker 5K training program to prepare employees for the Mayor's Race – Leading up to the Mayor's Race, Oncor partners with Luke's Locker to provide employees with twice weekly, in-person 5K training and weekly employee articles with fitness tips from the program. In 2011, Oncor invited more than 125 students from local running clubs and participants in MyFi, which Oncor helped establish, to join employees and family members for the Mayor's Race.
• Company sponsorship of employees participating in The Cowtown – Nearly 50 employees and family members participated in this year's races, running between 3.1 and 26.2 miles. 
• Clearly marked walking paths at several Oncor offices in North Texas and across the state – Oncor encouraged employees to start walking by creating an online story series focused heavily on the benefits of walking and created and shared walking paths of varying distances that employees can follow at their work locations.
• Participation in National Walking Day – More than 170 employees gathered for team walks at locations throughout Oncor's service area, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Midland, Waco and others.
• Company sponsorship of an employee cycling team.
• A state-of-the-art fitness center at its Dallas headquarters and a variety of fitness equipment – such as stationary machines, resistance equipment and free weights – at other locations.
• Creation of Oncor Texas Trails(SM), an initiative to transform Oncor's transmission right-of-ways into community hike and bike trails.

Oncor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Shapard, a fitness enthusiast himself, is the Chair of this year's Dallas Heart Walk, the AHA's largest fundraiser of the year. Though Oncor has participated in the Heart Walk for the past several years, this year, Shapard has set a lofty employee-fundraising goal of $100,000 and hopes to have a significant portion of Oncor's workforce represented at the Dallas Heart Walk on Sept. 8.

In preparation for the Heart Walk, employees will engage in various activities focusing on fitness, nutrition and personal wellness, including exercise classes, healthy cooking demonstrations and participation in walking clubs and events.

"We're very proud of the increased role we're playing in the Dallas Heart Walk this year and of all the ways we're getting healthy," Dennis said. "Our employees are really embracing these healthy initiatives, too. They're volunteering at our MyFi events to teach kids how to do a pushup or make healthy snack choices and are even finding ways to incorporate healthy lifestyle choices into work. We have employees who are forming walking clubs and holding weight loss and smoking cessation competitions. Being a part of a healthy company and healthy communities is really important to everyone at Oncor."

Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC ("Oncor") is a regulated electricity distribution and transmission business that uses superior asset management skills to provide reliable electricity delivery to consumers. Oncor operates the largest distribution and transmission system in Texas, delivering power to more than 3 million homes and businesses and operating approximately 118,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines in Texas. While Oncor is owned by a limited number of investors (including majority owner, Energy Future Holdings Corp.), Oncor is managed by its Board of Directors, which is comprised of a majority of independent directors.

SOURCE Oncor