Stakeholders and interaction with our environment
In our day-to-day work, it is increasingly important to be ‘in touch with our environment’. At all levels. Listening and engaging in dialogue with our stakeholders is an indispensable step towards ‘doing the right things right’, having a shared understanding of the challenges we face in the energy transition and being and remaining in touch with what the environment asks and demands of us. Our mission is ‘Working together to create an environment filled with new energy’. We do this proactively on our three strategic spearheads and on the material topics.
The importance of these material topics is also reflected in the ancillary positions held by members of our Board of Management. See also ‘Biographical details of members of the Board of Management of Stedin Group’.
Our stakeholders
Our stakeholders are the people, groups or authorities that have an influence on Stedin and vice versa. Contacts with our stakeholders partly take place in a structured form, but they can also take place on an ad hoc basis, depending on the topic. The public and regulated nature of Stedin to a large extent determines the categorisation below into stakeholder groups.
Internal: employees
External: shareholders, industry associations, national government, NGOs, grid management sector, regulators, local and regional authorities, low-use customers, heavy-use customers, financial stakeholders, groundwork contractors, suppliers, sector market players, interest groups, knowledge partners, communication/media.
Policymakers and policy frameworks
Stedin aims to play a linking role in the transition to a new energy system to ensure that this remains safe, sustainable, reliable and affordable. Our core tasks as grid manager are impacted by the transition, and existing policy frameworks must be adapted to make the necessary changes possible. Owing to our public function, Stedin’s interests are social interests. We engage in constructive dialogue with the stakeholders in the societal arena, and we contribute our experience and expertise. We mostly do this in cooperation with Netbeheer Nederland. These talks are always conducted by employees of Stedin. We do not engage a Public Affairs consultancy firm on a permanent basis. Nor does Stedin donate funds to politicians, political parties or government institutions.
Environment management
The energy transition will require numerous and sometimes major adjustments that also necessitate spatial adjustments. Strategic environment management is necessary to ensure this is supported by society. In order to create a shared position and support, we involve other organisations and stakeholders as early as possible to ensure effective coordination of plans. We do so in several ways – for example, by making data on our grids publicly accessible and by concluding covenants as well as agreements for long-term cooperation with municipalities and other parties. In 2023, Stedin made further preparations for the entry into force of the Environmental and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) where participation is a requirement.
Corporate social responsibility
Given our societal role, we are reticent in engaging in sponsorship activities, also in 2023. Our choice for sponsoring or a financial contribution is determined by the initiatives concerned, in which we foreground our primary core tasks in the energy transition and get energy users on board in the changing energy world. In addition, in 2023 we also elected to sponsor initiatives that allow us to give greater visibility to our brand as an employer, especially within our service area. One key aim of this is to attract new colleagues. Our most important initiative in 2023 concerned supporting the ‘Energy Bank’ in Rotterdam and The Hague.
The Energy Bank
The purpose of the Energy Bank is to ensure energy remains available as a primary necessity of life for households that do not have enough money to pay their energy bill. Stedin’s assistance is provided through people as well as funds. In addition, we donate € 8,000 annually. In 2023, the Energy Bank was again one of the two charities included in the annual end-of-year gift. Stedin employees were able to opt for a personal gift or a financial contribution to a charity. As a result, we were able to hand over an additional amount of € 600 to the Energy Bank Rotterdam and The Hague. In 2023 we deployed 111 coaches and reached 1268 households. Energy Bank Rotterdam reaches households with six information points, the energy shack in conjunction with Opzoomer Mee, group coaching and individual coaching. The energy shack will be active until April 2024. The Energy Bank will continue to focus on group coaching, individual coaching and the information points in 2024.
We also undertake active and broad-based efforts to promote an inclusive society.
In the table below, we provide insight into the numerous contacts we have with our principal stakeholders.
Stakeholder group | Examples of stakeholders | Examples of interaction | Material topic |
|---|---|---|---|
Shareholders | AHC-A (municipality of Rotterdam) | 42 Dutch municipalities and the State - General Meeting of Shareholders and Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders. Formal and informal consultation, meetings on specific topics, individual contact | All material topics |
AHC-B | Shareholders’ Committee - 10 members who represent the 43 shareholders of Stedin Group | ||
Municipality as customer representative | |||
Municipality as shareholder | |||
Industry associations | Energy Netherlands | Inform, dialogue, knowledge exchange and/or active role as a member | Access to energy and supply reliability; |
VEMW (Association for Energy, Environment and Water) | |||
Bouwend Nederland (Dutch Construction and Infrastructure Federation) | |||
National government | Ministries and Rijkswaterstaat (Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management) | Influencing policy on relevant themes, frameworks for, for instance, Regional Energy Strategies, contributing expertise and experience. | Access to energy and supply reliability; |
IPO (Association of Provincial Authorities) | |||
ILT (Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate) and Rli (Council for the Environment and Infrastructure) | |||
NGOs | Foundation (Energy Bank) | Knowledge exchange, dialogue, volunteering, cooperation | Good employment practices; |
Associations (Jinc) | |||
Climate organisations (Friends of the Earth Netherlands, Greenpeace) | |||
Grid management sector | Associations (Netbeheer Nederland) | Lobbying, partnerships, knowledge exchange, cooperation | Access to energy and supply reliability; |
Regional Grid Managers | |||
National Grid Managers | |||
Regulators | Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) | Information (standard and ad hoc), knowledge exchange, agreements on the performance of our core tasks | Access to energy and supply reliability; |
State Supervision of Mines (SodM) | |||
Dutch Data Protection Authority | |||
Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands | |||
Local and regional authorities | Regional Implementing Agency (DCMR) | Provincial and municipal consultations on utilities, interprovincial consultation, consultation and coordination of work below ground and permit applications, regional and local energy policy, coordinate energy transition plans and realisation of (test) projects - Regional Energy Strategies, Regional Agenda for Charging Infrastructure Network, Transition Vision for Heat, Test Beds for Natural Gas-free Districts, coordinate realisation of investments in the grids, covenants for multidisciplinary operations, cooperation of security regions. | All material topics |
Water boards and provinces | |||
Regional directors | |||
Low-use customers | Consumers | Customer panel - efforts to improve process, system, customer journey and/or communication | Access to energy and supply reliability; |
Heavy-use customers | Small/Big Business (Shell) | Account support and customer service - products and services make the energy transition plans possible - efforts to improve processes, systems, the customer journey and/or communication. | Access to energy and supply reliability; |
Government (municipality of Rotterdam) | |||
CPOs (Fastned) | |||
Financial stakeholders | Bondholders | Periodic consultation and report on financial performance, accountability and disclosures | Access to energy and supply reliability; |
Loan providers | |||
Auditor (Deloitte) | |||
Rating agencies (S&P) | |||
Groundwork contractors | Contractors (Van Vulpen) | Consultation and coordination of activities below ground, cooperation and standardisation | Access to energy and supply security; |
Water companies (Evides) | |||
Cable operators (KPN) | |||
Suppliers | Consultants (McKinsey) | Collaboration, relationship management and dialogue | |
IT service providers (Capgemini) | Circular use of materials and waste management; | ||
Educators (de Baek) | |||
Employees | All Stedin employees | Formal and informal contact, quantitative employee survey, periodical negotiations on terms and conditions of service | Good employment practices; |
Jong Stedin | |||
Works Council (OR) | |||
trade unions | |||
Makers of the Future | |||
Sector market operators | Market operators EDSN | Knowledge exchange, partnerships, cooperation, dialogue | Access to energy and supply reliability; Customer and stakeholder perception; |
Independent Service Providers | |||
Collaborative umbrella organisations | |||
Interest groups | Consumers’ Association | Information, dialogue, knowledge exchange | Access to energy and supply reliability; Customer and stakeholder perception; |
Disputes Committee | |||
Association of (Prospective) Homeowners | |||
Knowledge partners | Universities (including TU Delft) | Knowledge exchange, research, cooperation | Customer and stakeholder perception; |
Research organisations (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research, TNO) | |||
NGinfra | |||
Impact Economy foundation | |||
Communications/media | National media | Information | Access to energy and supply reliability; Customer and stakeholder perception; |
Online media | |||
Regional media |
