Interaction with stakeholders

In dialogue with stakeholders

Based on high-impact themes, we regularly seek to identify suitable parties for Alliander's dialogue. Engagement, size, willingness to enter into dialogue and expertise are crucial considerations in this respect. We aim to find a common approach to issues, create support for initiatives, build trust and devise solutions with added value. Both for the short and long term. We maintain a daily dialogue with our customers about their energy demands, with our shareholders about promoting sustainable solutions, and with our employees about being an employer of choice. Together with all our stakeholders, we are moving forward towards the energy supply of the future.

The Alliander stakeholder model comprises three stakeholder groups. A distinction is made between:

key stakeholders: customers, employees and shareholders & investors;
other stakeholders such as: suppliers, knowledge institutions, regulators and civil society organisations.

Contacts with stakeholders and centenary

We conduct the dialogue with stakeholders on both an ad hoc and a structured basis. This includes the organisation of customer panels and shareholder consultations as well as meetings with the Works Council. Supplier days, knowledge and partner meetings and participation in network organisations are important forms of contact with stakeholders. We are in regular contact with politicians in the Netherlands and at the European institutions, and we also liaise with regulators. To mark our 100th anniversary, we organised various dialogues, notably during our temporary pop-up museum in Radio Kootwijk. This provided an inspiring setting for an extensive dialogue with our customers and stakeholders. The Management Board was also an active participant in this lively exchange of views.

Interaction with stakeholders

Stakeholder	Organisation or platform	Type of interaction	Items for discussion	Reference
Customers - consumer	Web panel Customer survey Customer ombudsman Customer panels Consumer organisations	Digital panel Quantitative survey (four per year) Complaints and mediation (case by case) Qualitative research (various forms) Dialogue (various forms)	Collaboration, relationship management, dialogue and improved services	Customers
Customers - business	Trade associations	Dialogue / relationship management (various forms)	Collaboration, dialogue / relationship management and improved service	Customers
Employees	Employee survey Employee representation Young employee network - Tension Female employee network - Lianne GBLT network - Pride Staff Association WENb employers' association	Quantitative survey (quarterly) Formal consultation (monthly) Dialogue / workshops / meetings Ditto Ditto Employee association	Participation, dialogue and employee engagement	Employees
Shareholders and investors	Provinces and municipalities	General Meeting of Shareholders Shareholders (at least once annually) Major shareholder consultations (three times a year) Company visits, management consultation, individual contact Two-yearly reputation survey Periodic newsletter	Formal and informal consultation, knowledge and insight into activities	Shareholders and investors
	Lenders, investors and credit rating agencies	Periodic consultations and reports on financial performance (periodic)	Accountability and commentary	Financial
Authorities	Central government and European Union	Consultation, discussions, exchange of views (projects, ad hoc)	Expression of interests and (pro-) active dialogue	Shareholders and investors
	Provinces and municipalities	Consultation, collaboration and projects (projects, ad hoc)	Alignment of climate and environmental plans and projects	Shareholders and investors
Politics	Both houses of Dutch parliament, ministries	Relationship management Working visits Pro-active and reactive provision of information Two-yearly qualitative survey	Provision of information in general sense and on topical issues	All stakeholders
Regulators	Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets	Periodic meetings on current topics and issues Standard and ad hoc requests for information	Inform, exchange and explain	Customers
	State Suerpvision of Mines Dutch Safety Board	Periodic meetings on current topics and issues Standard and ad hoc requests for information	Inform, exchange, andexplain	Customers
Energy sector	Cedec Energy producers/suppliers Energy Storage Netherlands European Distribution System Operators for electricity (Edso) Eurelectric Eurogas ENCS IGU Flexible power Alliance Network (FAN) Hier opgewekt Netbeheer Nederland Nedu ODE-Decentraal European Energy-Information Sharing & Analysis Centre Foundation Rural Energy Services (FRES) Global Gas Network Initiative (GGNI) Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition Smart Energy Collective Stichting de Energiebank	Board membership (monthly) Working groups (monthly) Stichting E-laad (continuous)	Knowledge exchange, partnerships, representation of interests, cooperation	Customers
Suppliers	Contractors and industry Suppliers of goods and services	Contractors' day (once a year) Suppliers' days Theme-based conslutations SRP consultations	Collaboration, relationship management, dialogue	Financial
Knowledge institutions	Educational institutions and knowledge organisations Sustainable Electrical Energy Center of Expertise	Collaboration with Radboud University Nijmegen, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Regional Training Centres. Universities of Technology in Delft, Eindhoven and Twente.	Knowledge exchange and partnerships	Employees
Media	Media	Relationship management Proactive information provision Crisis communications Qualitative survey (every two years)	Information, positioning	All stakeholders
Civil society organisations	Natuur en Milieu Nudge Stichting de Opkikker Nederland Cares Klimaatverbond Nederland Milieu Centraal	Consultation and dialogue about project design, volunteer work (projects, ad hoc)	Facilitate renewable energy supply	Customers
	Housing associations, developers and businesses	Discussions, participation in associations and foundations (frequent)	Participation, dialogue and relationship management	Customers
Partner relationships	Global Reporting Initiative Groene Zaak Kenniskring Amsterdam MVO Nederland Open compliance and ethics group The Open Global Data Management Community Urgenda Vereniging Eigen Huis Vereniging Nederlandse Gemeenten World Economic Forum	Board membership, meetings, sponsoring (periodic)	Collaboration with knowledge institutions, businesses and authorities, sustainability promotion	Customers

Stakeholder information and the annual report

Social trends and stakeholder dialogues form the basis for the identification of the most important themes we report on. In 2015, we entered into a dialogue about this with our stakeholders.

In addition, we requested our stakeholders to indicate the themes they wanted us to address in this report. Our stakeholders assessed the impact of social and other themes for the organisation in a materiality test. Based on this input, the fifteen most relevant and high-impact topics as perceived by our stakeholders were grouped according to priority.

Stakeholders tend to select themes that have a bearing on our operational activities, such as safe working conditions and security of supply. They also opt for themes that enable Alliander to distinguish itself in the future, such as the energy transition, energy saving and innovation. These outcomes were discussed in the Management Board, which concluded that the issues raised by the stakeholders are largely consistent with the efforts Alliander is undertaking on behalf of its stakeholders.

Materiality test

Performance benchmark