Glossary

ACM

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) is an independent public regulator whose tasks include oversight of compliance with the Gas Act and the Electricity Act 1998.

Waste hierarchy

Dealing with waste: four approaches. Prevention has the highest priority. Next comes the highest possible reuse. Third, waste incineration to generate energy. The least desirable approach is dumping or discharging waste.

A rating

The rating score of a company, or ‘rating’, is an assessment of the creditworthiness of a company in the form of a ‘mark’. Ratings are awarded by specialised agencies.

Cable pooling

In cable pooling, a single cable is used to accommodate power generated from both solar and wind on a single connection. This is important, in view of the limited utilisation of the total capacity of a connection in the case of generation plants for solar and wind. After all, the wind does not always blow and the sun is not always out. The connection must nevertheless be able to cope with periods of peak load. Cable pooling enables us to curtail the output of the solar or wind farm at peak times, when the capacity of the connection is not sufficient.

CAIDI

The Customer Average Interruption Duration Index is the average duration of an unforeseen interruption of electricity supply per customer affected.

CAPEX and OPEX

Capex are the Capital Expenditures, the costs related to developing and supplying our products and services. Opex are the Operating Expenditures, the operational costs to enable our business operations.

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access is a telecommunications network for transmitting information across a wireless radio connection using spread spectrum techniques.

Congestion

Congestion occurs when a grid has insufficient capacity to transmit all electricity generated and purchased. Congestion management uses price mechanisms and market forces to manage energy supply and demand. This is called flexibility.

Corporate governance

Corporate governance concerns relations between the board of management, the supervisory board and the general meeting of shareholders. Good entrepreneurship (ethical and transparent conduct by the board of management) and effective supervision (including reporting on it) are key principles of corporate governance.

CGC

Corporate Governance Code. Good governance of a company protects the interests of shareholders, employees and other stakeholders. Rules of conduct for this are set out in the Corporate Governance Code. Listed companies are required to comply with this code by law. Stedin Group adheres to the CGC insofar as possible and applicable.

EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation)

Profit before income tax adjusted for depreciation, amortisation, net interest payable, profit of group entities sold, revaluations and share of minority interests.

ESG criteria

Environmental, social and governance criteria for a company’s activities with a potential impact on society or the environment. The ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria are the most important criteria used to measure the sustainability and ethical implications of an investment in a company or in a sector of the economy.

Flexibility

If a grid has insufficient capacity to transmit all electricity generated and purchased, we deploy congestion management. In congestion management, price mechanisms and market forces are used to manage supply and demand.

FFO/Net Debt ratio

This ratio is calculated in accordance with the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) method. Funds From Operations (FFO) divided by net debt. The FFO is comprised of the EBITDA (see above), adjusted for interest and taxes paid, costs related to the perpetual subordinated bond loan (50%) and capitalised interest. The net debt is the sum of current and non-current interest-bearing debt (including lease liabilities) and including the perpetual subordinated bond loan (50%), pension liabilities minus unrestricted cash and cash equivalents.

Regulated market

The activities of the grid manager that arise from the tasks that are exclusively reserved for the grid manager and for which maximum rates are set by the ACM. They include:

• installing, maintaining, modernising and managing connections to the electricity grid with a rated capacity up to 10 MVA;

• building, maintaining, modernising and managing electricity as well as gas grids;

• transmitting gas and electricity;

• safeguarding the safety and reliability of the grids in an effective manner;

• promoting safety in using equipment and installations that consume electricity as well as gas;

• facilitating the free market to enable customers to switch to a different energy supplier.

SAV

Standardised asset value

NSAV

Normalised standardised asset value

GPRS

General Packet Radio Service. This technology is an addition to the GSM network and can be used to send and receive mobile data quickly and reliably.

GRI

Global Reporting Initiative. The internationally applied standards for sustainability reporting, in which an organisation reports publicly on its economic, environmental and social performance.

IFRS

International Financial Reporting Standards. Set of reporting rules issued by the IASB. Stedin Group complies with these reporting rules, which were drawn up to standardise financial reporting at an international level.

<IR> Framework

Integrated reporting is an extensive framework for business and investment decisions that are long term, inclusive and purpose oriented.

kV

Kilovolt (kV) is a unit of voltage equal to 1,000 volts.

LTE-M meter

An LTE-M meter communicates via the LTE technology instead of the GPRS or CDMA technology. LTE is short for Long Term Evolution and is the generic term for the 4G network.

LTI

Lost Time Injury. An LTI event is an event that results in absence from work for more than one working day or shift - for instance, an accident in a workshop. Work carried out by and accidents of third parties are not included.

LTIR

Lost Time Injury Rate: the number of lost-time workplace incidents per million of hours worked.

NAL

The National Agenda on the Charging Infrastructure Network is a multi-year implementation programme resulting from the Climate Agreement, stating ambitions and actions aimed to ensure easy-to-use, smart and widely available charging facilities. This concerns charging stations on private driveways and at business premises as well as public and semi-public charging stations and fast chargers. The programme also includes the installation of charging infrastructure for the logistics sector. 

Grid capacity and transmission capacity

Both terms are synonymous and refer to capacity in the grid.

Network losses

Network losses arise during the transmission of electricity and gas. The greater the distance, the greater the loss. Network losses can also be caused by fraud and administrative losses (in the allocation and reconciliation process as well as the administrative process).

Net investments

Gross investments less customer construction contributions received from third parties.

NOC

Network Operations Center. Stedin’s modernised control centre that monitors Stedin’s service area 24/7.

PIE

A PIE is a Public Interest Entity. These are organisations that, due to their size or function in social and economic life, affect the interests of comparatively large groups.

OR

Works Council This is a body that consists of members of the works councils of the various business units of Stedin Group.

OT infrastructure

This comprises the smart sensors in our network that detect, for example, whether the voltage is correct and reliable, flexible, affordable and safe.

Regional Energy Strategy (RES)

Each region develops its own energy strategy in order to realise the measures for electricity and the built environment in the Climate Agreement. Examples are the regional generation of sustainable energy as well as plans to match supply and demand.

BoM

Board of Management. The board of management is the most senior executive body of an organisation. A board of management is responsible for the strategic management of the entity.

SB

Supervisory Board In the Netherlands, the supervisory board is the supervisory body of public limited liability companies and private limited liability companies.

RIF

Recordable Incident Frequency: number of fatal accidents and lost-time workplace incidents, incidents entailing alternative work or incidents requiring medical treatment per 200,000 hours worked.

Remuneration report

The remuneration report is a report on the remuneration of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board. The remuneration policy of Stedin Group is prepared by the Selection, Appointments and Remuneration Committee of the Supervisory Board.

Petajoule (PJ)

That is 1 thousand trillion joules, and 1 petajoule is sufficient to supply energy to around 15,000 households for a full year.

SAIDI

System Average Interruption Duration Index. The annual average downtime: the average duration for which a customer is not supplied with electricity due to unforeseen interruptions (in minutes).

SAIFI

System Average Interruption Frequency Index. The interruption frequency: the average number of unforeseen interruptions with which customers are faced on an annual basis.

SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals. The Sustainable Development Goals are a set of goals for future international development. They have been formulated by the United Nations and are promoted as the global goals for sustainable development.

Smart meter

A smart meter enables the grid manager to read the meter for both electricity and gas from a distance, as well as the meter status information. The smart meter can also carry out instructions sent remotely, such as connecting or disconnecting a customer. Communication with the meter takes place via the cable network (Power Line Communication), via GPRS, via the CDMA network or via the LTE-M network. The use of smart meters should result in energy savings.

Solvency

Equity plus profit or loss for the period less expected dividend distributions for the current financial year divided by the balance sheet total, adjusted for the expected dividend distribution, long-term portion of connection contributions received in advance and free cash and cash equivalents.

Voltage quality

The voltage at a connection to the electricity grid is required to be of a specific quality. Good voltage quality is important, for instance to ensure the continued proper operation of equipment.

Failure reserve

This is the reserve capacity for the electricity grid. This gives us sufficient additional room in the grid to shorten the duration of an interruption caused by a failure and enables us to carry out maintenance on our grids without an interruption being necessary to do so.

Tier 1, 2 and 3 suppliers

Within the supply chain we distinguish between Tier 1, 2 and 3 suppliers. Tier 1 suppliers are our direct suppliers, Tier 2 suppliers are our suppliers’ suppliers (they supply semi-manufactured products, for instance). Tier 3 suppliers provide our Tier 2 suppliers with the raw materials of which those semi-manufactures are made.

Shortage of transmission capacity

Shortage of transmission capacity is shortage in the national and regional electricity grids due to the growth in large-scale solar farms and the growing demand for electricity in the Netherlands.

VIAG

The Natural Gas Safety Instructions (VIAG) for energy companies, in conjunction with the annexes and operational safety instructions, provide a set of uniform rules for the safe operation of gas production systems of grid managers.