Impact Measurement Disclosures

Disclosures on impact measurements

Objective and scope

  • The impact of three of Alliander's innovative initiatives is measured in this annual report: the smart meter, the Sustainable Heating Network in Nijmegen and Step2Work.
  • Each impact measurement provides a quantitative or qualitative indication of a number of the most important social impacts of the initiative in question.
  • The measurement looks at the overall impact of the initiative as carried out by Alliander in partnership with other parties.

Definitions and principles for the measurement

  • The impact was determined by comparing the consequences of Alliander's activities with what would have happened if Alliander had not undertaken the activities (the reference case).
  • The various impacts are classified according to stakeholders and different forms of capital (financial, assets, intellectual, human, social and natural).

Interpretation

  • The aim is to give a reliable indication of the measured impacts. Still, the actual impact may differ from the reported impact in the annual report due to limitations in the scope of the measurements and the underlying uncertainty and incompleteness of the information sources and because the measurements contain predictions for the future.

1) Step2Work Disclosures

Scope

  • The impact analysis answers the question: what is the estimated direct financial and social impact of Alliander's Step2Work activities undertaken in 2015 for the participants in Step2Work, for Alliander and for the public authorities involved during a four-year period after the programme?
  • The following indicators fall within the scope of the impact measurement during the programme and the four years after completion:
  • For participants: an increase in expected financial income and expected improvement in well-being.
  • For public authorities: higher expected financial revenues from wage taxes and employer social security contributions, and lower expected costs for reintegration and benefit payments.
  • For Alliander: the financial investments in and income to be attributed to the Step2Work programme.
  • The following impacts are out of scope:
  • The opportunity costs, the employees' sense of pride and social cohesion within Alliander.
  • Indirect social impacts, such as the positive security-related impact of work (less crime) and the training level of children, were left out of scope.

Reference scenario

  • The impact of Step2Work is defined as the difference in the value of the indicators in the current scenario with Step2Work and a reference scenario without Step2Work.
  • The reference scenario is the expected situation if participants had not taken part in Step2Work, based on statistical averages for job seekers at a distance from the labour market in the Netherlands.

Key assumptions and principles

  • To measure the improvement in well-being, we assumed a uniform improvement in this area due to work for everyone, based on the measured difference in well-being for the Netherlands in the European Social Survey (2015).
  • The government's future savings on benefit and reintegration costs were estimated on the basis of the average amount of benefit payments and reintegration costs as reported in public sources.
  • The assumption for all impacts is that 50% of the future jobs found by a Step2Work participant are jobs that would not have been filled by someone else if the Step2Work participant had not applied.

2) Sustainable Heating Network Disclosures

Scope

The impact measurement of Alliander's Sustainable Heating Network in Nijmegen concerns the direct environmental impact during the operational phase of the new heating network compared to a conventional gas network with individual high-performance boilers. The following impacts were quantified:

  • Reduction in C02 emissions
  • Reduction in fossil fuel usage
  • Reduction in air pollution

In addition, a qualitative description was given for two other identified impacts related to the Sustainable Heating Network because there was not yet sufficient measurable information for these impacts. This concerns the facilitation of an open network and the increased probability the further sustainability will be achieved through Sustainable Area Development activities.

The impact during the construction and waste phase was not quantified due to the absence of information (about both the heating network and the alternative gas network with high-efficiency boilers). However, we expect that any positive or negative impacts during this phase were relatively limited compared to the impacts during the operational phase (which were quantified). This has to do with the long useful life of the heating network and the fact that materials and comparable activities were also necessary during the construction and waste phase in the reference situation.

Reference scenario

The reference scenario for the new heating network is one where each household has an individual high-efficiency 107 boiler using natural gas transmitted via a gas distribution network.

Key assumptions and principles

The primary fossil energy demand was calculated (in accordance with NEN 7120:2011 and NVN 7125:2011) by determining the primary energy efficiency for both situations. The factors used to determine the energy efficiency of the heating network were the energy loss during electricity production (the amount of electricity generated is lower than the amount of heat that is tapped off) and the required auxiliary energy. Electricity lost when heat is tapped off is generated, in accordance with the standard, with a marginal efficiency of 50%. In the Netherlands this often concerns energy generated by gas-fired power stations. The energy efficiency of the high-efficiency boiler was calculated based on the share of space heating and warm tap water and the corresponding efficiency percentages in an HR-107 boiler.

CO2 emissions were calculated using the fossil energy demand (natural gas in both situations) and the emission factor for natural gas.

NOx emissions were calculated on the basis of the demand for heating and emission factors for NOx. The above assumption, that the electricity lost during the burning of natural gas is generated elsewhere, meant that the emission requirements for gas-fired installations could be applied.

3) Smart Meter Disclosures

Scope

The impact measurement of the smart meter concerns the impacts of the smart meters placed in 2015 compared to the number of traditional digital meters that would have been installed according to Asset Management's normal installation schedule. The following impacts were quantified:

  • Temporary increase in installer activities
  • Purchase of smart meters
  • Use of raw materials for smart meters
  • Energy use of smart meters
  • Potential energy savings among users
  • Energy savings thanks to more accurate data

Reference scenario

The impact of the number of installed smart meters was compared to the number of traditional digital meters that would have been installed according to Asset Management's normal instalment schedule.

Key assumptions and principles

  • Various studies show that the roll-out of the smart meters resulted in the development of new services that led to energy savings for the user. The most conservative KEMA estimate (3.2% electricity meter and 3.7% gas meter) was used here.
  • The potential energy savings for users was calculated assuming straight-line savings over the meter's useful life.
  • The financial impact of the potential energy savings for users was calculated assuming that there was no increase in energy prices. Inflation was factored in at a rate of 2% per year.
  • Based on the available useful life data for traditional meters, it was assumed that 167,267 traditional meters would now not be replaced with new traditional meters but with smart meters. This was the reference scenario for smart meters.
Five-year summary