28
Elia Facts & Figures 2008 Powering a world in progress E
Elia Facts & Figures 2008 Powering a world in progress
E
Key figuresConsolidated IFRS results
(in million €, results per share in €) 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Operating income 757,3 731,7 711,5 714,2 704,5
EBITDA (1) 334,1 308,5 292,5 295,9 268,1
Net profit 103,1 77,6 75,9 76,5 59,5
Net profit per share 2,14 1,62 1,58 1,60 1,42
Dividend per share 1,37 1,30 1,28 1,27 1,27
Regulated asset base (RAB) (2) 3.764 3.583 3.443 3.443 3.299
Average RAB (2) 3.673 3.512 3.442 3.371 3.323
Number of employees (31/12) 1.231 1.249 1.227 1.221 1.238
Length of the grid in kilometres (31/12) 8.412 8.406 8.367 8.344 8.276
(1) EBITDA = Operating income – cost of goods and services – personnel costs – provisions – write-downs.(2) Calculated in accordance with Belgian accounting regulations (Belgian GAAP)
1
Financial ratiosRatios 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Pay-out ratio 63,9% 80,5% 80,8% 79,6% 89,6%
Return on equity 7,6% 5,9% 5,9% 6,5% 5,6%
Return on capital employed 6,5% 6,3% 6,0% 6,4% 5,9%
Net Debt / Equity 175,8% 159,7% 158,6% 162,2% 203,9%
Leverage (Debt / Debt + Equity) 63,7% 62,1% 61,9% 61,9% 67,1%
EBITDA / Gross Interest 3,1 3,0 3,0 3,1 2,5
Net Debt / EBITDA 7,1 7,1 7,1 7,0 8,2
Margins
EBITDA margin 44,1% 42,2% 41,1% 41,4% 37,6%
EBIT margin 31,4% 29,3% 28,7% 29,7% 27,2%
Net profit margin 13,6% 10,6% 10,7% 10,7% 8,4%
Dividend yield on book value 4,9% 4,7% 4,7% 4,7% 5,0%
Tax rate 21,2% 29,7% 28,2% 35,2% 36,1%
2
3
Profile
Elia comprises two legal entities, Elia System Operator SA and Elia Asset SA, operating as a single economic entity under the generic name Elia. Together with its subsidiary Elia Engineering, it employs around 1,231 people. Elia is Belgium’s electricity transmission system operator (TSO) under licences awarded to it by the country’s federal government (for the 150 to 380 kV network) and those of its three regions (for the 30 to 70 kV grid). As TSO, Elia operates in line with its values of empathy, responsibility, entrepreneurship and integrity.
Elia seeks to engage in open and transparent dialogue with its various stakeholders. This commitment applies to its customers, suppliers, shareholders, potential investors, authori-ties and the community at large, as well as to Group staff members.
The company’s number one duty is to ensure the reliable and safe transmission of electri-city from production units in Belgium and Europe to grid users, namely distribution system operators and large industrial consumers. Given the central position of the Belgian grid in the Western European electricity system and Belgium’s net import balance, Elia takes constant care to ensure safe management of international power flows (imports, exports and transits) on its grid.
4
Elia also ensures that there is a constant balance between production and im-ports, on the one hand, and consump-tion and exports, on the other, within its control area. Since electrical energy is difficult to store, it must be generated as and when consumption requires it.
To enable it to perform its tasks, Elia must maintain its various facilities, including lines, cables, transformers and dispatching centres. It develops and upgrades its grid using the latest tried-and-tested technologies. This approach incorporates a proactive respect for the environment and supports the sustain-able development policies in place in Europe and in Belgium at both federal and regional level.
Its unique and central position on the Belgian electricity market allows Elia to develop innovative services and mecha-nisms aimed at ensuring the effective operation and development of this market within continental Europe.
Elia adheres strictly to statutory rules on corporate governance as well as the provisions of the Belgian Corporate Go-vernance Code for listed companies.
Elia has been listed on the regulated market of Euronext Brussels since June 2005.
5
6
Elia’s activitiesIn its capacity as the Belgian transmission system operator, Elia has three main, interdependent tasks.
Power grid operation.
Elia constantly monitors balance of generation and import on the one hand and exports and consumption on the other in its control area. Since electrical energy is consumed instantly when generated, the quantities of electricity in-jected into the grid must constantly be balanced in real time against the quantities taken from the grid (i.e. consumed). The country’s security of supply depends on this.
Infrastructure management.
Elia maintains high-voltage installations: lines, cables, transformers and so on. Depending on the market’s requirements and the need for a sound management of the electrical system, Elia
uses and upgrades its grid using the best avail-able advanced technologies.
Market facilitation.
Elia holds a unique and central position on the national electricity market. As such, it serves as a market facilitator and implements services and mechanisms enabling the correct operation and development of the market in continental Europe.
7
8
Management and supervisory bodiesBoard of directors
The Boards of Directors of Elia System Operator and Elia Asset each have 12 members. The same mem-bers sit on both Boards. These members do not have a management function within either Elia System Operator or Elia Asset. Half of the members are independent directors, appointed by the general meeting and having received a positive unanimous opinion by CREG on their independence.
ChairmanRonnie Belmans Appointed as Chairman for 3 years on June 24, 2008 Electrabel
Vice-ChairmenFrancis Vermeiren Appointed as Vice-Chairman for 3 years on June 24, 2008 Publi-TThierry Willemarck Appointed as Vice-Chairman for 3 years on June 24, 2008 Independent
DirectorsJacqueline Boucher Electrabel Claude Grégoire Publi-TClement De Meersman Independent Jean-Marie Laurent Josi IndependentJohan De Roo Publi-T Ingrid Lieten IndependentJacques de Smet Independent Luc Van Nevel IndependentSophie Dutordoir Electrabel
Management Committee
• ChairmanandChiefExecutiveOfficer-DanielDobbeni
• Vice-chairmanandChiefCorporateOfficer-JacquesVandermeiren
• ChiefOfficerGridServices-HubertLemmens
• ChiefFinancialOfficer-JanGesquière
• ChiefExecutiveOfficerEliaEngineering-MarkusBerger
• ChiefOfficerTransmission-RoelGoethals
• ChiefOfficerCustomers&Market-FrankVandenberghe
9
Elia sites
HeadquartersNational Control Centre Regional Control Centre Elia EngineeringService Centre
Lochristi
Lendelede
Courcelles (Gouy)
Genk (Stalen)
Liège (Bressoux)
Villeroux
Antwerp (Merksem)
Schaarbeek
Brussels
Namur
Linkebeek
Diegem
10
11
Group structure and shareholders
CASC-CWE14,28%
HGRT24,5%
Coreso33,33%
Elia Re**100%
Elia Engineering**100%
Belpex60%
Elia System Operator
Elia Asset99,99%
Economic unit
Free float*40,1%
Publi-T33,01%
Electrabel24,35%
Publipart2,54%
* Groep Arco has announced on 21 October 2008 that it has 10,37 % of the Elia shares in its possession.** Elia System Operator has 1 share of Elia Re and 1 share of Elia Engineering in its possession.*** The total number of shares outstanding rose to 48,076,949 on 31 March 2008.
Investments
12
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
€ million Investments (IFRS)
161,2
141,4
180,3
160,1
2008
142,5
2007 2006 2005 2004
13
PersonnelSafety
Severity rate
Freq
uenc
y ra
te
2005
2006
2008
2007
Elia Group frequency and severity rates 2005-2008
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
0,00,10,2
14
15
Composition of Elia group staff, 31 December 2008
Men Women Total Full-time equivalents
Management 7 0 7 7
Supervisory staff 368 61 429 408,8961
Employees 649 146 795 713,1358
Total 1024 207 1231 1134,0319
Evolution Elia Group staff
Elia System Operator Elia Asset Elia Engineering Total
2008 233 812 186 1231
2007 228 827 194 1249
2006 215 833 179 1227
2005 209 833 179 1221
2004 178 886 174 1238
OperationsEnergy balance Belgium
Elia grid 2008
Exports
France: 2.038,6Luxembourg: 1.517,9Netherlands: 3.004,6
Imports
France: 7.386,3Luxembourg: 1.628,6Netherlands: 8.118,6
Net-import: 10.572,3
Net injections
Productions: 69.140,3Local Productions: 6.639,8Injections from DSO's: 194,4Pumped Storage Plants: 1.340,0Total: 77.314,5
Net consumptions
Direct clients: 27.416,5Distribution: 57.059,7Pumped Energy: 1.781,4Total: 86.257,5
Energy losses: 1629,3
(in GWh)
16
17
The consumption indicator1 for the Elia control area was down 1%, from 88.9 TWh in 2007 to 88 TWh in 2008. Overall, climatic conditions in 2008 were similar to those in 2007, although the winter lasted slightly longer. Consumption rose slightly in the first quarter, resulting in an overall increase (up to and including September) of 1.4% compared with the same period in 2007.
By contrast, the last quarter of 2008 saw consumption affected by the economic crisis.
In November 2008, it was down 8.5% compared with November 2007. In December it dropped even further, to 10.1% less than the previous year. This fall in consumption originated mainly with industrial customers. Among companies connected directly to the Elia grid, consumption fell by 14.6% in November and 28.5% in Decem-ber, compared with the same period in 2007.
1 The Elia consumption indicator covers the majority of electricity consumption in Belgium. It includes all produc-tion connected to the Elia grid plus the net import-export balance. The share of consumption supplied directly by production units connected to the distribution grids is not included in the indicator.
Evolution of consumptionMonthly injected energy in the Elia control area
18
Energy 2007Energy 2008Av. temp. 2007Av. temp. 2008
9.000
8.000
7.000
6.000
5.000
4.000
3.000
2.000
1.000
0
20,0
18,0
16,0
14,0
12,0
10,0
8,0
6,0
4,0
2,0Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
GWh/month °C
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
-2500 -2000 -1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500
Exchangeswith LuxemburgExchangeswith FranceExchangeswith the Netherlands
Imports Exports
GWh
Imports and exportsMonthly imports and exports in 2008 (physical border flows)
19
Reliability Elia gridIn 2008, security of supply remained at a very high level, exceeding that of the previous year, which was already excellent.
•Theaveragenumberof interruptionson theEliagrid per consumer (Average Interruption Frequen-cy) was 0.08, equivalent to one interruption per customer every 12 years.
•Theaveragedurationofinterruptionswas38min-utes and 29 seconds.
•Spreadacrossallcustomers,theaveragedurationof interruption was 3 minutes and 7 seconds per customer (Average Interruption Time), equivalent to an average reliability of more than 99.999%.
Belgium is definitely one of the best countries in Europe in terms of quality of electricity supply.
20
Average Interruption
Time
03.01
05.14
03.32
03:07
Average Interruption Frequency
0,096
0,130
0,090
0,080
AverageInterruption
Duration
31.27
41.23
39.07
38:29
ReliabilityElia grid
99,9994%
99,9990%
99,9993%
99,9994%
Numbers of days in the year
365
365
365
366
2005*
2006
2007
2008
* Power cuts on 25 and 26 November 2005 not included. These were caused by an exceptional concurrence of weather conditions. As internationally recommended the statistics for the continuity of the power supply only include interrup-tions that last for longer than 3 minutes into account.
Average Interruption Time indicates the average number of minutes of interruption time for all customers on the Elia grid. Average Interruption Frequency indicates the average number of annual interruptions per customer. A number of 0.09 indicates that each customer experiences an interruption every 11 years. Average Interruption Duration indicates the average duration of a customer interruption.
21
Sustainable developmentRational energy use (RUE)
As part of its public service obligations in Flanders, each year Elia implements an action plan aimed at encouraging Rational Use of Energy (RUE) among its customers. In Flanders, Elia provides its customers with the resources required to make recurrent savings of 1.5% on their primary energy consumption for each MWh supplied, for facilities connected at between 36 kV and 70 kV.
Elia reached its 2008 target – a saving of 26.7 GWh of electrical energy – by subsidising energy-saving measures implemented by its industrial customers. Results to the end of December 2008 already showed a saving of 38.6 GWh, well ahead of the initial target. 23 schemes have been introduced and 19 customers have undertaken to invest in energy-saving schemes. Since 2003, thanks to Elia’s work with its industrial customers, a combined total of 242 GWh of energy had been saved by the end of December 2008 – equivalent to some 79,000 tonnes of CO2.
Green energy certificates
In order to promote power generation using renewable energy sources, Elia buys all green energy certificates that are offered at the set minimum price. These certificates, issued by the regulators, prove that an amount of energy produced in Belgium comes from renewable sources. Energy suppliers are compelled to submit a minimum number of certificates to the regulators, which they can buy directly from the producers, or at auctions organised by Elia.
22
Sales of green certificates
Price and volumes of green certificates
23
€ /MWh
11-02-04 20-08-04 11-02-05 31-08-05 17-02-06 25-10-06 02-02-07 28-09-07 29-02-08 24-10-08 12-03-09
77
171198
364
258
672
313
663
421
981
363
112,00112
117,52
118,74 117,47
110,76
109,13
117,14
110,81
115,50
101,10
50
150
250
350
450
550
650
750
850
950
1050
90,00
95,00
100,00
105,00
110,00
115,00
120,00
125,00
NumberPrice
Number
High-voltage gridsLength Elia grid as at 31 December 2008
24
Electrical connections
Voltage Underground Overhead Total
(kV) (km) (km) (km)
380 891 891
220 297 297
150 413 2.011 2.424
70 282 2.412 2.694
36 1.932 8 1.940
30 140 26 167
Total 2.767 5.645 8.412
Overhead connections: route lengthUnderground connections: electrical length
Antwerp
Gent
Brussels
LiègeCharleroi
380 kV
220 kV
150 kVGrids at 70, 36 and 30 kV are not reproduced on the map.
Boulevard de l’Empereur 20
B-1000 Brussels
T + 32(0)2 546 70 11
F + 32(0)2 546 70 10
www.elia.be
Concept and redaction: Elia, CommunicationGraphic design: Sa Bouge
Editor: Jacques Vandermeiren - May 2009
Powering a world in progress