Glossary
This section presents explanations of terms and abbreviations.
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. Reuse in high-quality products comes second. Third, waste incineration to generate energy. The least desirable approach is dumping or discharging waste.
Allocation
Energy volumes are allocated to market parties per 15 minutes for electricity and per hour for natural gas, so that the balance can be maintained and imbalances can be settled. This is done on the basis of measurements of values per 15 minutes or per hour (if these are recorded), or based on standard consumption and the profiles of the grid users (if energy volumes are not recorded per 15 minutes or per hour).
Blue diesel
Blue diesel or actually HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) is a type of diesel fuel. It is made from processed vegetable oils and residual waste. No more fossil oil is involved, so it produces much lower CO2emissions.
Cable pooling
Feeding back wind and solar energy through a single cable.
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.
CO2 equivalents
To sum up the impact of different greenhouse gases, emission figures are converted into CO2equivalents. The conversion is based on the Global Warming Potential (GWP), in other words the extent to which a gas contributes to the greenhouse effect. One CO2 equivalent equates to the effect of 1 kilogram of CO2 emissions.
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 is about good management. It governs the relationships between Board of Management members, Supervisory Board members and 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
The Dutch corporate governance code is a code of conduct for listed companies which aims to bring above improved transparency in financial statements, better accountability to the Supervisory Board and stronger control and protection of shareholders.
Credit rating
The credit rating score of a company, or ‘rating’, is an assessment of its credit rating in the form of a ‘mark’. Ratings are awarded by specialised agencies.
Data maturity
Data maturity refers to an organisation’s ability to manage and use data efficiently and effectively. It means that the organisation has a data-driven decision-making process, with clear processes for Data management and analysis.
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation)
Result before income tax adjusted for depreciation, amortisation, net interest payable, results of group entities sold, revaluations and share of minority interests.
Energy transition
The transition from fossil-fuel energy generation to renewable energy generation (e.g. from solar, wind or water).
ESG
ESG stands for environmental, social and governance.
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.
Code of Conduct for Smart Grid Management
The Code of Conduct for Smart Grid Management (Gedragscode Slim Netbeheer) was approved by the Dutch Data Protection Authority in 2022. This makes it possible to use certain smart meter data for grid management, subject to strict conditions. This mostly concerns the monitoring of voltage quality.
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;
the low-use metering service;
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 harmonise 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.
Low-voltage grid (LV)
Grid intended for the transmission of electricity at a voltage level less than or equal to 1 kV in the case of an AC grid and less than or equal to 1.5 kV in the case of a DC grid and operated as such.
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: number of lost-time workplace incidents per million hours worked over the last twelve months.
National Agenda on the Charging Infrastructure Network (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.
MVA
MVA is the abbreviation for megavolt-ampere.
Medium-voltage grid (MV)
Grid intended for the transmission of electricity at a voltage level greater than 1 kV but less than or equal to 35 kV and operated as such.
Grid capacity and transmission capacity
Both terms are synonymous and refer to capacity in the grid.
Net investments
Gross investments less customer construction contributions received from third parties.
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).
NOC
Network Operations Center. Stedin’s modernised control centre that monitors Stedin’s service area 24/7.
Installed capacity
The maximum capacity (of a generating unit) that can be utilised to provide electrical energy under ideal conditions.
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.
Participation Act job
A Participation Act job is a position specifically created for someone who cannot fully participate in the labour market due to a disability.
Petajoule (PJ)
That is 1 thousand trillion (1,000,000,000,000,000) joules. 1 petajoule is sufficient to supply energy to around 15,000 households for a full year.
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 highest executive body and is in charge of the strategic management of the company.
Supervisory Board (SB)
Supervisory Board. In the Netherlands, the Supervisory Board is the supervisory body of public limited liability companies (NVs) and private limited liability companies (BVs).
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.
R-ladder
The R-ladder indicates the degree of circularity. The R ladder has six steps (R1 to R6) representing different circularity strategies. Strategies higher up the ladder save more raw materials. The higher a strategy is on the R-ladder, the more circular it is, with R1 being the highest step.
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.
SDG (Sustainable Development Goals)
Goals published by the United Nations for sustainable development of the world up to 2030.
Smart meters
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.
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.
Stakeholders
Stakeholders are individuals and groups that have an interest in a variety of ways in Stedin Group, such as employees, shareholders, customers, capital providers, suppliers and government.
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 are the suppliers to our Tier 2 suppliers and provide the raw materials of which the 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.
