The energy transition is gaining momentum, grid operator Enexis also notices this in the again strong growth of the number of solar installations. In addition, Enexis's technicians installed no less than 330 smart meters per hour at the end of 2015. With these meters, customers can obtain a better insight into
their energy consumption, which leads to a higher demand for energy-saving services. The smart meter also contributes to better grid management. At the end of 2015, Enexis had installed in total 1.1 million smart meters at 662,000 addresses. The installation percentage is 90%. Furthermore, households in the
service area of Enexis had on average only 14.2 minutes no electricity supply in 2015. This historic low electricity outage time is apparent from Enexis's 2015 annual report, which has been published today.
“We also made a big effort in 2015 to give form to and accelerate the energy transition. For instance, an intensive cooperation was started in 2015 with other parties for wind-on-shore projects and the offering of smart meters has been gathering steam. The increase in, for example, the number of wind farms, solar panels and electric cars and the increasing importance of heating in the energy mix illustrates the current transition of the energy supply. The driving force of consumers, energy cooperatives and businesses continues to increase. We take these developments into account in our investment decisions and programmes. The energy transition demands a lot of agility and flexibility on our part in order to respond pro-actively to developments and, at the same time, continue to reliably and safely supply energy. And we certainly succeeded in doing this in 2015 with a historically low outage time for electricity. In addition, an important result is the increased awareness of our employees with regard to working safely, which is also reflected in a substantial decrease in the number of accidents in 2015 compared with 2014. Our target is to have no accidents resulting in absenteeism. Therefore, working safely will also remain our number one priority in 2016."
Amounts in millions of euros |
2015 |
2014 |
% |
| Capital employed | 5,475.5 | 5,339.9 | 3% |
| Revenues | 1,353.4 | 1,399.5 | -3% |
| Profit for the year | 223.1 | 265.5 | -16% |
| Work on the grid* | 675.0 | 603.0 | 12% |
| Electricity outage time (minutes per connectio n) | 14.2 | 17.7 | -20% |
| Gas outage time (seconds per connection) | 78 | 90 | -13% |
| Customer connections electricity and gas (x 1,0 00) | 4,7 89 | 4,7 66 | 0% |
| Accident index own employees (DART rate) | 0. 33 | 0. 60 | -45% |
| Number of employees | 4,2 99 | 4,3 16 | 0% |
* Work package: investments and operating expenses
The outage time of 14.2 minutes per connection for electricity in 2015 (2014: 17.7 minutes) is significantly lower than the long-term average of 22 minutes, and the average outage time for the Netherlands in 2015 (32.9 minutes). Investments in grid innovations contributed to this higher reliability. For instance, Distribution Automation enables us to resolve outages faster. We equipped around 300 medium-voltage stations with this technology in 2015, which brought the total number of stations equipped with Distribution Automation up to around 1,000. Furthermore, we are working on outage prevention, for example, by limiting excavation damage.
Enexis continues to invest in maintenance and replacements in order to ensure that the grids also remain safe and reliable in the future. Work on the grids amounted to EUR 675 million in 2015 (2014: EUR 603 million) and will increase up to EUR 705 million in 2016. Working with gas and electricity demands
constant alertness by our employees. We want every employee to return home safe and sound at the end of every day. The safety awareness of employees increased further in 2015 and the number of accidents resulting in absenteeism was considerably lower than in 2014. Our successful safety programme will be
continued in 2016.
Enexis aims to play an active role in the realisation of the Energy Agreement and to work together with chain partners, governments and energy cooperatives to achieve this. For instance, Enexis contributes to energy saving and education about sustainability with social programmes. The number of 'Buurkracht' neighbourhoods increased in 2015 to 102 (2014: 47), and the number of 'Van Zon Krijg je Energie' schools increased to 219 (2014: 118).
Within the statutory framework, Enexis also makes its data available for general use as much as possible. With open data, we support organisations, such as municipalities and market parties, with the development of applications for energy savings. For instance, from July 2015 onwards, we have made our anonymised lowvolume users data available for general use. In addition, we focused on reducing the CO2 footprint of the organisation in 2015 also by means of improved waste management, a more sustainable mobility policy, socially responsible procurement and making employees more aware of their own behaviour.
Enexis reduced its customer tariffs by on average 3.8% in 2015. The tariffs will also decrease in 2016, on average by 0.7%, in accordance with the maximum tariffs permitted by the regulator. The tariff reduction in 2015 resulted in a more than 3% lower revenue of EUR 1,353.4 million (2014: 1,399.5 million). Together
with an increase in costs due to the growth of sustainability and improvement projects, which was partially offset by increased efficiency, this decrease in revenue resulted in a decrease in profit to EUR 223.1 million (2014: EUR 265.5 million). This resulted in a net return of 4.1% on the capital employed of EUR 5.5 billion (2014: EUR 5.3 million). An important step also took place in 2015 in organising the servicing areas in line with provincial boundaries. The exchange of servicing areas with Alliander will also lead to efficiency gains which will benefit the customer in the future.