12. Property, plant, and equipment

Property, plant and equipment (tangible fixed assets) are valued at acquisition price or (internal) production cost, less depreciation calculated on this value and any impairments. Investment subsidies are deducted from the acquisition costs of the asset concerned and credited to the result based on the asset’s useful life. Costs are only capitalised if it is likely that future economic benefits will result from the use of a specific asset and the costs can be reliably determined. Assets ordered but not yet received are not recognised in the balance sheet. To carry out its activities as a regional grid operator, Enexis also uses assets that have been fully depreciated.

Changes in property, plant, and equipment in 2025 were as follows:

In 2025, property, plant and equipment were retired from use whose carrying amount at the date of retirement was nil, while the cumulative acquisition cost amounted to € 273 million and the cumulative depreciation also amounted to € 273 million. This resulted in a lower cumulative acquisition cost and depreciation as at year-end 2025.

In 2025, Enexis revised the expected useful life of some of its smart meters. For GPRS meters installed between 2011 and 2017, it was determined that the previous depreciation period of 15 years was no longer representative. This revision is related to the announced phasing out of the GPRS communication network by service providers, as a result of which these meters are expected to remain economically viable until 2030 at the latest. The remaining carrying amount of these meters as of 1 January 2025 will therefore be depreciated on a straight-line basis over the period 2025-2030, taking into account a proportional distribution of the replacement of these meters in the period 2025 to 2030, such that the carrying amount of these meters at the end of 2030 will be nil. This adjustment qualifies as a change in estimate and has been accounted for prospectively. The remaining carrying amount of the assets concerned has been reallocated over the adjusted remaining useful life as of this date.

The carrying amount of the GPRS meters as of 1 January 2025 was € 99 million, and prior to the revision, the meters were depreciated until 2033, which would have resulted in a carrying amount of nil at the end of 2033. As a result of the revision of the expected useful life to no later than 2030, depreciation in the years 2031 to 2033 will cumulatively amount to € 6 million less. The impact of this change on the estimated depreciation and disposals is as follows:

The comparative overview for 2024 is as follows:

Impairments of property, plant, and equipment

The recoverable value of property, plant, and equipment is calculated if events or changes in circumstances give cause to do so (‘triggering event’ analysis). The results of this calculation are used to determine if any impairment exists. An assessment is performed annually and, in the event of interim publications, to ascertain whether such events or changes have occurred. As a result, no impairment loss was recognised in 2025.

In these triggering event analyses, Enexis Groep also took into account developments related to the energy transition. These developments do not constitute a trigger to calculate the recoverable value of the gas network’s assets. For more information about this topic, see the ‘Future outlook for the gas network’ section in note 13 ‘Intangible fixed assets’.