Grid access policy

As described above, we do not always manage to connect customers within the deadlines set by the ACM^{(MDR-P ESRS 2 para 65 (d))} and to provide them with the desired transmission capacity. In this situation, Enexis has a policy regarding waiting lists and prioritising grid extensions and customers on the waiting list. Our policy aligns with the legal framework and the guidelines of the ACM.

Waiting lists and congestion management

To meet customer demand for electricity consumption and/or feed-in, the grid needs to be reinforced. Until this reinforcement is complete, we cannot allocate (additional) transmission capacity. When we identify congestion on the grid, we formally notify the ACM. We then carry out congestion studies. In the event of congestion, customer requests for transmission capacity from high-volume consumers are placed on a waiting list. As transmission capacity becomes available, it is offered to these customers in the waiting list order. ^{MDR-P ESRS 2 para 65(a)(b);S4 15)}

In addition, we use congestion management measures and flex products to encourage customers to adopt flexibility in their electricity consumption and/or feed-in, either voluntarily or, in some cases, compulsorily. Through contractual agreements, these customers adjust their consumption during peak periods to prevent overloading. With these so-called flex contracts, we reduce peak loads while allowing customers to buy or sell electricity at off-peak periods (see also the section on ‘Making more efficient use of the grid’).

Waiting list prioritisation

From 1 October 2024, based on the ACM's social prioritisation framework, Enexis may give priority to specific customers in congested areas when scarce transmission capacity becomes available^{(MDR-P ESRS 2 para 65(b)(c))}. Customers who believe they qualify for social priority have been able to apply to Enexis since 1 October 2024. To request priority, they must provide evidence in accordance with the guidelines outlined by the ACM in the code decision^{(ESRS 2 65(d))}. Enexis evaluates these requests against the established guidelines and determines whether the customer’s request qualifies as a priority. The customer is always informed of the decision. If priority is granted, the customer’s transmission request is given a new, prioritised position on the waiting list. As a result, these customers gain access to a newly available transmission capacity earlier than those without a prioritised transmission request. Currently, the social prioritisation framework only applies to high-volume consumers^{(MDR-P ESRS 2 para (b); ESRS S4 15)}.

Prioritisation therefore allows certain high-volume consumers to receive transmission capacity earlier and limits the negative impact on Enexis of not being able to offer transmission capacity to these customers.^{(ESRS 2 65(a))} We recognise that this may negatively impact other customers, as it may result in longer wait times and increased uncertainty. 

Programming and prioritising grid expansions

As we rebuild the energy system, we are approaching the limits of our implementation capacity and available space. We need to choose where and when to start if we are to accelerate the development of the energy infrastructure we need.^{(ESRS 2 para 65(a))} Societal developments take precedence, which is why we have adopted a new collaborative approach with various stakeholders, including the government, provinces, municipalities and market players. The aim is to create the best possible infrastructure for society by 2030. This will allow us to better deal with grid congestion and also to prevent future congestion^{(ESRS 2 para 65(a)(b))}. This collaborative process resulted in the pMIEK (Provincial Multi-Year Program for Infrastructure, Energy, and Climate). The pMIEK identifies spatial developments with high social priority and the necessary energy infrastructure. Where necessary, these investments are prioritised in planning and implementation. We incorporate the prioritisation in the pMIEK into the prioritisation of the investment portfolio when preparing the investment plan.^{(ESRS S4 15)}

Policy for a reliable energy grid

The increased load on our grid has led to a growing probability of major interruptions. To prevent this, Enexis implements a robust maintenance and replacement policy. We maintain a stock of replacement equipment, including components for high-voltage, medium-voltage and low-voltage substations, for rapid deployment in emergency situations^{(ESRS 2 65(a)(b))}. We analyse major(er) outages to identify possible areas of improvement to improve our reliability performance and conduct regular crisis drills^{(ESRS S4 15)}.

The rapid growth of solar panels on homes is also overloading our low-voltage (LV) networks, resulting in more frequent outages. In response, we have strengthened our policy on this. When LV grids fail due to generator overload, we install heavier LV fuses or medium-voltage (MV)/LV transformers wherever feasible. If these solutions are not possible, the incident management team may opt to increase the voltage in the LV grid. This ensures that customers’ inverters to trip earlier, preventing further overloading and failure of the LV grid.

Contact with our customers

As a grid operator, we do not directly incorporate customers’ views in our decision-making processes^{(ESRS S4 20)}. Instead, we base our grid investments and customer connections on two main principles. First, we make risk assessments of the future load on the grid and the technical condition of the grid, as described in our investment plans. Second, we take into account our legal obligations, including connecting customers and resolving outages.

Customers with questions, complaints or concerns can contact our customer service team. This can be done through several channels: telephone, email, mail, chat or social media^{(ESRS S4 para 25(a)(b))}. Some of our high-volume customers with a connection can also contact the relationship manager. However, these customers should also contact our customer service department for formal complaints or claims.

For customers with specific requests for a connection and/or transmission capacity, we provide tailored information about their personal situation. If a connection with transmission capacity is feasible, we discuss the timeframe for achieving this and whether it fits into the customer’s schedule.

Information about grid congestion

In the event of congestion, we inform customers about the situation. For high-volume consumers, this means that the requested transmission capacity cannot be provided immediately, and the customer will be placed on a waiting list. While Enexis cannot always offer an immediate solution in cases of congestion, we emphasise clear and transparent communication. We provide information about congestion through campaigns, media reports and our website. In customer communications, we explicitly address increasing congestion, extended connection timelines, the (in)direct impact on customers and possible alternatives.^{(ESRS S4 25(a))} We also produce a monthly congestion newsletter specifically for our high-volume customers.

Customer surveys

We measure the effectiveness of our communications and any solutions provided^{(ESRS S4 para 25 (d))} through various customer surveys. For structural processes in Customer Service and Production, for example, we have structural customer satisfaction surveys. We invite every customer who goes through one of these processes, both consumer and business, to participate. We also conduct structural customer surveys via the website and customer portals. We use the information from these surveys to improve our customer interaction, processes and information provision. We also use qualitative and quantitative customer research to improve our understanding of specific issues. For example, in 2024 we examined our high-volume customers’ awareness of network congestion^{((ESRS S4 25(d) 26)}.

The customer satisfaction survey also assesses whether customers trust our complaints mechanism to effectively communicate their concerns or needs and find solutions^{(ESRS S4 26)}. We do not evaluate the extent to which our customers are aware of our complaints procedures^{(ESRS S4 26)}.

Measures: access to the grid 

  To mitigate our negative impacts on network access, we focus on:

• expanding our grid;

• more efficient use of available transmission capacity; and

• transparent communication with our customers.

Expanding our grid

The primary solution for grid congestion is to expand the grid. We are working hard to achieve this. We are investing heavily in increasing our network capacity. In November, we presented the 2024 investment plan. The plan shows where we will be working over the next 10 years. We gathered input from stakeholders such as provinces, municipalities and market players to develop the plan. For the first time, we included priority projects proposed by the provinces through the pMIEKs (see also the section ‘Programming and prioritising network expansion’). In addition, we are coordinating the expansions with TenneT so our substations are ready as soon as TenneT completes its own expansions, allowing us to offer transmission capacity to our customers immediately.^{(ESRS S4 30;32(a)(b)(c))}

We will spend more than € 3 billion between 2024 and 2026 on expanding our electricity grids.^{(MDRA-A ESRS 2 para 69(b)} In addition, over the next 10 years we will invest nearly € 2 billion in the expansion of HV/MV substations.^{((ESRS 2 MDR-A 68(a)(b)(c)(d)+ ESRS 2 MDR-A69(c)+ MDR-A ESRS 2 AR23)} This includes upgrading all of Enexis’ 125+ HV/MV substations and building dozens of new HV/MV stations.^{(ESRS S4 para 31(a)(b);37)(ESRS 2, MDR-A para 68)} The substantial costs associated with grid expansion are reflected in 'note 12 Property, plant and equipment’ and note 6 ‘Cost of subcontracted work, materials and other external costs’ of the consolidated financial statements. ^{(ESRS E2 MDR-A par 69b)}

Planned expansion

To accelerate the expansion of our grid, we are also taking steps to increase production. We are setting up production lines for the planned expansion of our LV and MV grids, training staff together with contractors, accelerating land issues, reallocating contractor capacity, automating the production process and developing innovative solutions^{(ESRS S4 para 31(c))}.

Making more efficient use of transmission capacity

We are committed to using the current grid as efficiently as possible. This applies to both the feed-in and consumption of electricity.

First, we approach high-volume customers as part of congestion management. We ask them to be more flexible with their consumption and to reduce the load on the grid at peak times. To support this, we enter into specific contracts with these customers, who receive compensation in return. In areas where a sufficient number of existing customers are willing to adopt flexible consumption, we can connect additional low-volume and high-volume customers.^{(ESRS 2 MDR-A 68(a); ESRS S4 para 31(b);37)} So far, an insufficient number of customers have shown a willingness to be flexible. We continue to explore ways of making congestion management more appealing and easier for high-volume customers.^{(ESRS 2 MDR-A 68(a)}

Second, we offer customers alternative (flex) products such as ZonBalans and Blokstroom. These allow new high-volume customers to use the grid outside peak periods. The availability of ZonBalans and Blokstroom is limited, however. We have introduced these two products and offered them specifically to customers on the waiting list. For many customers, the current offerings do not fully meet their needs. We are therefore developing, within technical constraints, new flexible products that better align with our customers’ needs.^{(ESRS 2 MDR-A 68(c)(d)(e)); ESRS S4 para 31(a)}

Communicating transparently with customers

Transparent communication is important to raise customer awareness of the potential impacts of the entire electricity grid. In 2024, we launched campaigns for both low-volume and high-volume consumers.^{(ESRS 2 MDR-A 68(a)} With the ‘Full of energy’ campaign, we inform low-volume consumers about the challenges facing the electricity grid. The ‘My power grid, your power grid’ campaign for high-volume consumers was launched in October 2024. This campaign revolves around the questions: What is Enexis doing to tackle grid congestion? What can companies do themselves, and what can we do together?^{(ESRS 2 MDR-A 68(b)(c)} Both campaigns will be further developed based on outreach and customer feedback.

We want to inform customers as clearly as possible about developments, waiting lists and opportunities. National capacity maps were made available online with Netbeheer Nederland, TenneT, and the other regional grid operators. Enexis introduced similar maps in 2023, but Netbeheer Nederland's new capacity maps have replaced these. These maps provide insight into the available and required transmission capacity, the number of requests and capacity on the waiting list, and planned grid expansions. The capacity maps for electricity consumption and/or feed-in to regional grid can be accesed here. 

In addition to the national capacity maps, we provide high-volume customers with a monthly congestion update. The update includes information on newly identified congestion, congestion studies and energy releases. We also send a quarterly newsletter to all business customers who have subscribed to it. In 2024, we held special customer days for high-volume consumers, allowing them to ask questions directly. We also communicate with them through employer and industry associations.

Measures: reliable energy grid

To mitigate the potential adverse effects of large and frequent interruptions and to maximise the positive effects of a reliable energy grid, we are also focusing on expanding our grid and making more efficient use of the current one (see sections on ‘Expanding our grid’ and ‘Making more efficient use of transmission capacity’). We also have an effective maintenance policy.

Grid maintenance

As well as expanding our grid, we continue to invest in maintaining and improving the reliability of our existing infrastructure. This includes replacing obsolete components, regular maintenance to prevent breakdowns, and rapid and effective fault repair. For example, we have extensive replacement programmes in place until 2030 to ensure the safety of the gas grid. Similarly, components in the electricity grid are regularly replaced to maintain safety and reliability.^{(MDR-A ESRS 2 68(a))} The table below shows the total investments Enexis expects to allocate to grid expansion and maintenance over three years:

In addition to potential investments, the table also shows the required investments for which there is insufficient implementation capacity. The table shows that the investments needed to maintain the existing grid are all feasible, but those required to expand the grid are unfortunately not. Congestion management and other forms of flexibility could help to meet some of the customer demand (see also section ‘Making more efficient use of transmission capacity’).

We use KPIs to monitor the effectiveness of the above measures for grid access and a reliable energy network. See the following section on metrics and targets for more details.^{(ESRS S4 31(d))}