Business Area Distribution

Vattenfall’s Distribution business owns and operates electricity distribution networks in Sweden and Germany (Berlin) and has approximately 3.3 million business and household customers.

A new business has also been established in the UK which will work towards operation and ownership of new networks. Electricity distribution is primarily a regulated business that is supervised by the network regulators in the respective countries. In Sweden the revenue regulation will be stricter, and the revenue frameworks will be significantly lower from the next regulatory period, which starts 2020. Vattenfall has reviewed its investment plans to adjust to the new conditions while at the same time maintain focus on maximising the efficiency of investments.

We strive to minimise our impact on biodiversity in our distribution operations and make best use of the areas around our assets to aid protected or threatened species. Sustainable nature conservation and the protection of species are important aspects in the construction and operation of our electricity networks. We therefore place high demands on our suppliers and contractors to work according to our environmental policy

Strategy

Electricity distribution and its related infrastructure are essential for a sustainable society. Our customers and society have high expectations for the security and quality of their power supply. Even though we have made major investments in electricity networks for many years, we must continue to improve the quality of supply by reducing the average frequency of outages and their average duration. Furthermore, we need to increase the capacity of the network in many areas to be able to connect more customers and enable growth in society. The ageing network must be modernised to manage the growing volume of decentralised renewable power generation that needs to be connected. The Distribution System Operators (DSOs) are committed to enabling the adoption of smart meters, digital solutions and related customer information.

The following focus areas have been identified for Distribution:

• Continue with investments to improve availability and quality of supply, increase customer satisfaction, and accommodate renewable energy sources
• Be a digital DSO with smart, sustainable and customer-centric solutions such as digitalisation of customer interfaces and increased automation in the electricity network
• Safety has the highest priority in Distribution. We strive for a healthy and safe workplace for our employees and contractors through leadership and a culture of high health and safety awareness. We continuously work with safety inspections of our facilities to prevent risks. In the event of incidents in the electricity grid, we report and cooperate with the relevant authorities and take the necessary measures to prevent similar events from occurring again. This is a continuous process with the long-term goal to have zero accidents

Key data

¹ Operating profit excluding items affecting comparability.