383

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
FOR TRANSMISSION SYSTEM OPERATORS

Working Group
C3.02

June 2009
 WG C3.02

Sustainable development performance

indicators for transmission system operators

Members

E. Serres (Convenor) (FR), F. Havenga (ZA), M. Vazquez (ES), R. Furtado (BR), Y.

Nakagami (JP), M. Nederlandt (BE), F. Parada (PO), H. Sanders (NL), A. Vallée (CA)

Copyright©2009

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ISBN: 978-2-85873-070-4
 Table of contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 3

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 6

1. GUIDELINES AND ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT REPORTS

ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................................. 7
1.1 GUIDELINES ANALYSIS ..................................................................................................... 7
1.2 ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT REPORTS ANALYSIS ...................... 7
2. ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ...................................................................................... 9
2.1 ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE ............................................................................................. 10
2.2 MARKET PRESENCE ....................................................................................................... 11
2.3 INDIRECT ECONOMIC IMPACTS ....................................................................................... 12
2.4 AVAILABILITY AND RELIABILITY ........................................................................................ 12
2.5 DEMAND-SIDE MANAGEMENT ......................................................................................... 13
2.6 SYSTEM EFFICIENCY ........................................................................................................ 13
3. ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ....................................................................... 14
3.1 MATERIALS .................................................................................................................... 17
3.2 ENERGY ......................................................................................................................... 17
3.3 WATER ........................................................................................................................... 18
3.4 BIODIVERSITY ................................................................................................................ 18
3.5 EMISSIONS, EFFLUENTS, AND WASTE ............................................................................ 22
3.6 PRODUCT AND SERVICES................................................................................................ 27
3.7 COMPLIANCE ................................................................................................................. 27
3.8 OVERALL ....................................................................................................................... 28
4. SOCIAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ............................................................................................ 30

LABOUR PRACTICES AND DECENT WORK ............................................................................................. 33

4.1 EMPLOYMENT ................................................................................................................ 33
4.2 LABOUR / MANAGEMENT RELATIONS ............................................................................ 33
4.3 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY .......................................................................... 33
4.4 TRAINING AND EDUCATION ........................................................................................... 35
4.5 DIVERSITY AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY .......................................................................... 35
HUMAN RIGHTS ............................................................................................................................................... 36
4.6 INVESTMENT AND PROCUREMENT PRACTICES ............................................................... 36
4.7 NON-DISCRIMINATION ................................................................................................... 36
4.8 FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING .......................................... 36
4.9 CHILD LABOR ................................................................................................................ 36
4.10 FORCED AND COMPULSORY LABOR ............................................................................... 36
4.11 DISCIPLINARY PRACTICES .............................................................................................. 36
4.12 SECURITY PRACTICES .................................................................................................... 36
4.13 INDIGENOUS RIGHTS ...................................................................................................... 36
SOCIETY ............................................................................................................................................................. 36
4.14 COMMUNITY .................................................................................................................. 36
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 4.15 CORRUPTION .................................................................................................................. 38
4.16 PUBLIC POLICY .............................................................................................................. 38
4.17 ANTI-COMPETITIVE BEHAVIOR ...................................................................................... 38
4.18 COMPLIANCE ................................................................................................................. 38
4.19 DISASTER / EMERGENCY PLANNING AND RESPONSE .......................................................... 39
PRODUCT RESPONSIBILITY ......................................................................................................................... 40
4.20 CUSTOMER HEALTH AND SAFETY .................................................................................. 40
4.21 PRODUCT AND SERVICE LABELING ................................................................................ 41
4.22 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS .................................................................................... 42
4.23 CUSTOMER PRIVACY ...................................................................................................... 42
4.24 COMPLIANCE ................................................................................................................. 42
4.25 ACCESS ........................................................................................................................... 42
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................... 43

REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................... 43

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Transmission infrastructures ha ve sm all i mpacts o n the E nvironment com pared to heavy i ndustry
activities. Some of t hese i mpacts a re w ell known a nd objective: t ransformer a nd overhead l ine a udible
noise, maintenance w ork, waste generation, Joule effect, greenhouse gas effect due t o SF6, oil l eakage,
PCB issues, wildlife preservation, tree pruning under overhead lines… but some others are subjective and
refer to social acceptance issues: visual impact, EMF issues… Contrary to locally polluting activities such
as m ining, i ron a nd s teel industries, transmission ov erhead l ines, un derground cables, substations, a re
usually l ocated i n open areas, throughout c ountries. Taking into account Sustainable D evelopment i s a
global issue for Transmission System Operators.

As a cons equence, many TSO launched vigorous Sustainable Development policies in order to attenuate
NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) effects on new infrastructures and to improve existing grid acceptance.
In order to measure their efficiencies, these Sustainable Development policies must rely on Performance
Indicators. Hence, these indicators are key points towards comparison between TSO and other industrial
activities. Because of t ransmission network particularities, these i ndicators may be completely different
from other industry sectors.

One of t he m ajor g oals of t he Working G roup w as to pr ovide a s hort list o f i ndicators t hat should be
reported for Transmission System Operators because of their importance. The Working Group will was
not t o provide a n extensive l ist of performance indicators but to chose t hose considered to be the most
relevant a nd t hose a llowing c omparisons. F rom t he study of s everal g uidelines a nd f rom a bout t en
Sustainable D evelopment Reports or E nvironmental Reports published by U tilities, it appeared that t he
“Sustainability R eporting G uidelines V 3.0” [ 5] a nd t he “ Electric U tility S ector S upplement” [6],
published by the Global Reporting Initiative organization are the major references. As a consequence, the
Working Group defined a set of indicators from these GRI guidelines and proposed adapted definitions to
TSO activities.
The tables he reunder g ive al l t he i ndicators s elected from “ Sustainability R eporting G uidelines V 3.0”
(EC, E N, L A, H R, S O, P R) a nd f rom t he “ Electric U tility S ector S upplement” ( EU). S ome i ndicators
were commented in the sector supplement. The comments are mentioned in the tables (Comm).

GRI V3.0 Economic Indicators and Electric Utility Sector Supplement indicators or comments
Aspect: Economic Performance
EC1 Direct economic value generated and distributed, including revenues, operating costs, employee compensation,
donations and other community investments, retained earnings, and payments to capital providers and governments.
EC3 Coverage of the organization's defined benefit plan obligations.
Aspect: Market Presence
EC6 Policy, practices, and proportion of spending on locally-based suppliers at significant locations of operation.
Aspect: Indirect Economic Impacts
EC8 Development and impact of infrastructure investments and services provided primarily for public benefit
through commercial, in-kind, or pro bono engagement.
EC9 Understanding and describing significant indirect economic impacts, including the extent of impacts.
Aspect: Availability and Reliability
EU9 Planned capacity (MW) against projected electricity demand over the long term, broken down by energy
source and country or regulatory regime.
EU5 Planning to ensure short and long-term electricity availability and reliability.
Aspect: System Efficiency
EU13 Transmission and distribution efficiency.

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 GRI V3.0 Environmental Indicators and Electric Utility Sector Supplement indicators or comments
Aspect: Energy
EN3 Direct energy consumption by primary energy source.
EN4 Indirect energy consumption by primary source.

Aspect: Biodiversity
EN11 Location an d s ize o f l and o wned, l eased, managed i n, o r a djacent t o, p rotected ar eas an d ar eas o f h igh
biodiversity value outside protected areas.
EN12 Description of significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity in protected areas and
areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas. (+CommEN12)
Disclosure on Management Approach: Report approaches for pest and vegetation management along transmission
and distribution corridors (e.g., use of Integrated Pest Management and Integrated Vegetation Management)..
EN14 Strategies, current actions, and future plans for managing impacts on biodiversity. (+CommEN14)
EU14: Biodiversity of replacement habitats compared to the biodiversity of the areas that are being replaced.
Aspect: Emissions, Effluents, and Waste
EN16 Total direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions by weight. (+CommEN16)
EN18 Initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reductions achieved. (+CommEN18)
EN22 Total weight of waste by type and disposal method. (+CommEN22 + CommEN1)
Disclosure on Management Approach: Long-term strategy for managing and phasing out high level and low level
in-service PCBs.
EN23 Total number and volume of significant spills.
Aspect: Compliance
EN28 Monetary v alue of s ignificant f ines a nd t otal n umber o f n on-monetary s anctions f or no n-compliance with
environmental laws and regulations.
Aspect: Overall
EN30 Total environmental protection expenditures and investments by type.

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 GRI V3.0 Social Indicators and Electric Utility Sector Supplement indicators or comments

LABOUR PRACTICES AND DECENT WORK

Aspect: Occupational Health and Safety
LA7 Rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and absenteeism, and total number of work-related fatalities
by region. (+CommLA7)
Aspect: Training and education
LA10 Average hours of training per year per employee by employee category.
LA12 Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews.
Aspect: Diversity and Equal Opportunity
LA14 Ratio of basic salary of men to women by employee category.
SOCIETY
Aspect: Community
SO1 Nature, s cope, an d ef fectiveness o f an y p rograms and p ractices t hat a ssess a nd m anage t he i mpacts o f
operations on communities, including entering, operating, and exiting. (+CommSO1)
EU18: Participatory decision making processes with stakeholders and outcomes of engagement.
EU21 Number of people displaced by new or expansion projects related to generation facilities and transmission
lines, broken down by physical and economic displacement.
Aspect: Compliance
SO8 Monetary value of significant fines and total number of non-monetary sanctions for non-compliance with laws
and regulations.
Aspect: Disaster/Emergency Planning and Response
EU20 Contingency planning measures and disaster/emergency management plan and training programs, and
recovery/restoration plans..
PRODUCT RESPONSIBILITY
Aspect: Customer Health and Safety
PR1 Life cycle stages in which health and safety impacts of products and services are assessed for improvement,
and percentage of significant products and services categories subject to such procedures. (+CommPR1)
Aspect: Products and Service Labeling
PR5 Practices related to customer satisfaction, including results of surveys measuring customer satisfaction.
Aspect: Access
EU27 Power outage frequency.
EU28 Average power outage duration.

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INTRODUCTION

Transmission infrastructures ha ve sm all i mpacts o n the E nvironment com pared to heavy i ndustry
activities. Some of t hese i mpacts ar e w ell known and objective: t ransformer and overhead line audible
noise, maintenance w ork, waste generation, Joule effect, greenhouse gas effect due t o SF6, oil l eakage,
PCB issues, wildlife preservation, tree pruning under overhead lines… but some others are subjective and
refer to social acceptance issues: visual impact, EMF issues… Contrary to locally polluting activities such
as m ining, i ron a nd s teel industries, transmission ov erhead l ines, un derground cables, substations, a re
usually l ocated i n open areas, throughout c ountries. Taking into account Sustainable D evelopment i s a
global issue for Transmission System Operators.

As a cons equence, many TSO launched vigorous Sustainable Development policies in order to attenuate
NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) effects on new infrastructures and to improve existing grid acceptance.
In order to measure their efficiencies, these Sustainable Development policies must rely on Performance
Indicators. Hence, these indicators are key points towards comparison between TSO and other industrial
activities. Because of t ransmission network particularities, these i ndicators may be completely different
from other industry sectors.

In or der t o m ake t he be st c hoice, t he Working G roup m ethodology w as a s a f irst s tep to a nalyse a ll

available g uidelines then to analyse as a second step about t en Sustainable D evelopment R eports o r
Environmental Reports published by Electric Utilities.

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1. GUIDELINES AND ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT REPORTS ANALYSIS
1.1 Guidelines analysis
Six Sustainable Development or Environmental guidelines have been analysed, namely:
 “Sustainability Reporting Guidelines V 2.0” (Global Reporting Initiative - 2002) [1]
 “Environmental P erformance I ndicator g uidelines f or t he A ustralian E lectricity Industry”
(Electricity Supply Association of Australia - 2004) [2]
 “Guidance notes on environmental benchmarking indicators for the electricity sector” (UK
Electricity Association - 2001) [3]
 “Sustainability in the electricity utility sector - Phase 1” (World Business Council for Sustainable
development) [4]
 “Sustainability Reporting Guidelines V 3.0” (Global Reporting Initiative - 2006) [5]
 “GRI Electric Utility Sector Supplement” (Draft for Public Comment until 9 April 2007) [6]

At f irst, it app eared that t he “S ustainability R eporting G uidelines V 2.0” publ ished by t he G lobal
Reporting Initiative organization was a tool that may help not to skip major elements. Moreover, the GRI
guidelines appear to be the major reference, although there was no dedicated sector supplement available.
It w as cons idered that “E nvironmental P erformance Indicator g uidelines f or t he A ustralian Electricity
Industry“ and “Guidance notes on environmental benchmarking indicators for the electricity sector” could
be the environmental basis for the Electricity sector supplement.
Hence, it w as de cided to analyse t he S ustainable D evelopment a nd E nvironmental R eports us ing t he
performance indicators from the GRI guidelines.
During this study, the Global Reporting Initiative published a new version (V 3.0) of its “Sustainability
Reporting Guidelines” [5] and a draft version of the “Electric Utility Sector Supplement” [6]. It was then
decided to t ake t hese t wo documents i nto account in t his w ork i n order t o publish an up t o date set of
indicators, GRI V3.0 compliant.

1.2 Environmental and Sustainable Development Reports analysis

Several 2003 R eports were available, from WG members, WG C3-03 f tp site and websites. One major
difficulty w as tha t w here the tr ansmission activities a re integrated with generation activities, the
environmental indicators are usually those concerning the generation activities. For instance, although the
SF6 global warming potential is very high, the environmental indicators focus on CO2 emissions due to
thermal power plants and do not take into account SF6 emissions. One difficulty was to find TSO reports
or sufficiently detailed reports from integrated companies.
Another criteria in the r eport selection process w as to be as r epresentative as possible of the world
diversity. An interesting p oint w as the d ifficulty to f ind S ustainable D evelopment or E nvironmental
Reports from other regions than Europe, North America, Japan and South Africa.
The geographical coverage of the analysis was:
 six from (Western) Europe
 two from North America
 one from Japan
 one from Africa.
The following Table 1 summarises, for the Utilities considered, the main activity sectors. It can be seen
that there are seven vertically integrated utilities (RWE, ENEL, EnBW, Scottish Power, Kansai Electric
Power, ESKOM, Hydro Quebec), covering all the sectors of Generation, Transmission, and Distribution
of electricity. Two are only two TSOs (National Grid Transco, Red Electrica de España). The last one has
Transmission and Distribution activities (National Grid USA).
The reference to the GRI Guidelines was also analyzed.

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 Activity sector Reference to
Utility name Country
generation transmission distribution the GRI Guideline
Red Electrica de España Spain X X
Enel Spa Italy X X X
EnBW Germany X X X
RWE Germany X X X X
National Grid Transco United Yes but no indica-
Kingdom X tors reference to
GRI
Scottish Power United
X X X X
Kingdom
National Grid USA USA X X
Hydro Quebec Canada X X X X
Eskom South
X X X X
Africa
Kansai Electric Power Co. Japan X X X X
Table 1: Sustainable Development and Environmental Reports analysed

The l arge m ajority of U tilities r efers, i n t heir r eports, t o the G RI G uidelines. S ome of t hem pr ovide a
conversion table between their indicators and the GRI indicators. This point confirms what was found in
the a nalysis i n the l ast chapter: The G lobal R eporting Initiative Guidelines i s now the r eference i n the
reporting of the Sustainable Development performance indicators.

Nevertheless, the GRI indicators are on a very general basis and our analysis showed that the guidelines
may l ead to different m eanings f or the ut ilities, especially f or indicators d ealing w ith Greenhouse G as
Emissions w here one can f ind SF6 emissions a nd/or t ransmission losses a nd/or em issions du e t o
transportation…
Moreover, i ndicators s hould be c onsidered as a w ay f or every c ompany t o c hallenge t hemselves w ith
benchmarking. It a ppears very i mportant t o standardize t he i ndicators in or der to a llow stakeholders to
make f air comparison between c ompanies. For i nstance, t he amount of SF6 released in tonnes does not
reflect the pe rformance o f a TSO. O n the c ontrary, t he a mount of S F6 released in percentage of t he
amount of SF6 in use allows such a comparison. The choice of the indicator unit is a critical choice.

As a cons equence, as a f irst s tep, the WG propo sed a cor respondence be tween all t he i ndicators
mentioned in the reports and the GRI indicators and then tried to put all the indicators and their units in
common i n or der t o c onfront the W G m embers i nterpretation o f t hese i ndicators a nd t he ut ilities
practices.
This table is not part of this report but is the basis of the WG selection of the most relevant indicators.

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2. ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

9 economic performance indicators are given in the GRI V3.0 guidelines [5].
From the Electric Utility Sector Supplement (EUSS) pilot version [6], 5 new indicators are proposed, 4
indicators dealing w ith e conomic disclosures on m anagement a pproach a nd n o c omments on t he G RI
indicators.
The WG analysis of these indicators and the content of the Sustainable Development reports analysed led
to focus on 8 most relevant indicators, as mentioned in table 2 and 3. It had also been difficult to establish
a short list of indicators because of the major difference between public and private companies.
Keeping i n m ind the g oals o f r elevance a nd c omparability, t he us e o f t ables and graphs is h ighly
recommended. S takeholders s hould be able t o und erstand how t he company s hares t he m onetary f low
between i nvestors, e mployees, s uppliers, c ommunity, how t he c ompany de als w ith t he f uture
(investments, R&D)…

GRI V3.0 Indicators and Electric Utility Sector Supplement indicators or comments WG C3-02

Core Indicators Additional Indicators selection

Aspect: Economic Performance
EC1 D irect economic value generated and EC1
distributed, i ncluding r evenues, ope rating c osts,
employee co mpensation, do nations a nd ot her
community i nvestments, r etained e arnings, a nd
payments to capital providers and governments.
EC2 F inancial i mplications a nd o ther r isks a nd
opportunities for the organization’s activities due
to climate change.
EC3 Co verage o f t he o rganization’s d efined EC3
benefit plan obligations.
EC4 Significant financial assistance received
from government.
Aspect: Market Presence
EC6 Policy, practices, and proportion of spending EC5 Range of ratios of standard entry level wage EC6
on locally-based suppliers at significant locations compared t o l ocal m inimum wage at s ignificant
of operation. locations of operation.
EC7 Procedures for local hiring and proportion of
senior management hired from the local
community at significant locations of operation.
Aspect: Indirect Economic Impacts
EC8 Development and impact of infrastructure EC9 Understanding and describing significant EC8
investments and services provided primarily for indirect economic impacts, including the extent EC9
public benefit through commercial, in-kind, or of impacts.
pro bono engagement.
Aspect: Availability and Reliability
EU9 Planned capacity (MW) against projected EU9
electricity demand over the long term, broken
down by energy source and country or regulatory
regime.
Aspect: Demand Side Management
EU10 Estimated capacity (MW) saved through
demand-side management programs.
EU11 Estimated energy (MWh) saved through
demand-side management programs, broken
down by residential, commercial and industrial
customers.

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 Aspect: System Efficiency
EU12 Average generation efficiency by energy
source and by country or regulatory regime.
EU13 Transmission and distribution efficiency EU13
Table 2: GRI V3.0 and EUSS economic indicators and comments: WG selection

Electric Utility Sector Supplement : Economic Disclosures on Management Approach WG C3-02

Aspect Commentary selection

Availability and EU5 Planning to ensure short and long-term electricity availability and reliability. EU5
Reliability
Demand S ide EU6 De mand-side management p rograms i ncluding r esidential, co mmercial an d Not relevant
Management industrial programs. for TSO
Research a nd EU7 Research and development activity aimed at providing reliable and affordable Not relevant
Development electricity and promoting sustainable development. for TSO
Plant EU8 Provisions for decommissioning of nuclear power sites. Not relevant
Decomissioning for TSO
Table 3: EUSS Economic Disclosures on Management Approach: WG selection

2.1 Economic performance

GRI EC1 : Direct economic value generated and distributed, including revenues, operating costs,
employee compensation, d onations an d o ther c ommunity investments, retained e arnings, and
payments to capital providers and governments.
Data on the c reation a nd di stribution of e conomic value pr ovide a basic indication of how t he
organization has created wealth for stakeholders.

This i ndicator g ives an interesting pi cture of t he co mpany and the w ay t he generated value i s sha red
between e mployees, community, c apital providers, governments… It r efers t o International A ccounting
Standards such as IAS 12 on Income Taxes, IAS 14 on segment Reporting, IAS 18 on Revenues, and IAS
19 on Employee Benefits. It should be given in the following table form:
Component Comments
Direct economic value generated.
a) Revenues Net sales plus r evenues f rom financial sa les of
assets
Economic value distributed
b) Operating costs Payments to suppliers, non-strategic investments,
royalties, and facilitation payments
c) Employee wages and benefits Total m onetary out flows for e mployees (current
payments, not future commitments)
d) Payments to providers of capital All financial payments made to the providers of the
organizations’s capital
e) Payments to government Gross taxes
f) Community investments Voluntary contributions and investment of funds in
the broader community (includes donations)
Economic value retained (calculated as Economic Investments, equity release, etc.
value generated less Economic value distributed)

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GRI EC3 : Coverage of the organization’s defined benefit plan obligations.
When an org anization pr ovides a r etirement pl an f or its w orkforce, t hese be nefits cou ld be come
commitments t hat m embers of t he sch emes pl an on for t heir l ong-term econom ic w ell-being. Defined
benefits plans have potential implications for employers in terms of the obligations that need to be met.
Other types of plans, like defined contributions, do not guarantee access to a retirement plan or the quality
of benefits.

This indicator is useful both for providers or capital and for employees. It refers to IAS 19 on Employee
Benefits.

WG C3-02 Proposal Coverage of the organization’s defined benefit plan obligations

Justification Gives i nformation to shareholders a nd t o w orkforce about c ommitments in
benefit plans
Description Benefit plans
Units Structure of the benefit plan
Money in the benefit plant
How to measure From financial data
Accuracy High
Examples  Benefit plan based on the company own resources and financial data
 Benefit plan based on a separate fund and financial data
 …

2.2 Market Presence

GRI E C6 : P olicy, p ractices, an d p roportion of s pending on l ocally-based s uppliers at s ignificant
locations of operation.
The influence a n or ganization c an ha ve on a l ocal e conomy goes be yond di rect jobs a nd pa yment of
wages and taxes. By supporting local business in the supply chain, an organization can indirectly attract
additional investment to the local economy.

Even though it does not make sense for TSO in small countries, i t w as considered as important by t he
WG to select this indicator because it gives an overview of the company’s impacts on the local economy.
Local ha s t o be defined b y t he c ompany. E xamples of local procurement could be : local g oods, t ree
cutting services, painting services…

WG C3-02 Proposal Local suppliers

Justification To demonstrate the local impact of the company
Description Percentage o f the pro curement budg et u sed for s ignificant locations of
operation that is spent on suppliers local to that operation
Units %
How to measure From financial data
Accuracy High
Examples % of goods and supplies purchased locally

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2.3 Indirect Economic Impacts
GRI EC8 : Development and impact of infra-structure investments and services provided primarily
for public benefit through commercial, in-kind, or pro bono engagement.
As well as generating and distributing economic value, an organization can affect an economy through its
investments in infrastructure...

TSO may have to spend money to support public acceptance of their infrastructure. This can be done on a
project to project basis, but sometimes through dedicated programs. In some reports, this indicator is used
by TSO to give figures about money donated to foundations…

WG C3-02 Proposal Total spent on public benefit infrastructure development

Justification To communicate t he or ganisation's di rect financial i mpact on non-core
business to stakeholders.
Description This is infrastructure built outside the main business activities of the reporting
entity such as a school, hospital, road, water supply…
Units Monetary units
How to measure From financial data
Accuracy High
Examples  Amount given to foundations
 Amount given to dedicated programs

GRI E C9 : U nderstanding and de scribing significant indirect e conomic impacts, including the
extent of impacts.
Indirect economic impacts are an important part of an organization’s economic influence in the context of
sustainable de velopment. Whereas di rect economic impacts and m arket i nfluence t end to focus on t he
immediate cons equences of monetary f lows t o s takeholders, i ndirect economic i mpacts include the
additional impacts generated as money circulates through the economy.

TSO h ave us ually i ndirect econom ic impacts that are v ery di fficult to quantify. Some i mpacts c an be
considered as negative impacts such as impacts on tourism, others are positive such as the maintenance of
forests tracks, firewall effect… This is a na rrative indicator, a very difficult one to detail, but it is a k ey
issue toward infrastructure acceptance.

2.4 Availability and Reliability

EUSS EU5 : Planning to ensure short and long-term electricity availability and reliability.
EUSS EU9 : Planned capacity (MW) against projected electricity demand over the long term, broken
down by energy source and country or regulatory regime.

EU5 i ncludes bo th l ong-term (5 -10 years) and short t erm i ssues. Of t he nu merous r esponsibilities
entrusted to TSO, the task of maintaining the security and availability of the power system is perhaps the
most important.
TSO have to establish consumption forecasts for different timeframes:
 On the long term to give information about the equilibrium of electricity supply and demand to
ensure that supply will meet demand in the future. This generation adequacy report is a neutral
source of information for players in the electricity network about the need of new power plants
and the need of new lines.
 On t he s hort t erm, T SO has t o a ct t o m aintain t he ba lance be tween s upply a nd de mand f or
electricity. Since el ectricity cannot be s tored, any cha nge i n the d emand f or or g eneration o f

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 electricity at a given point on the transmission network has an instant impact on the entire power
system. This m eans the system m ust cons tantly ada pt t o ensure that supp ly i s strictly equa l t o
demand

WG C3-02 Proposal System Planning

Justification To demonstrate the ability of the company to face power system evolution
Description Company’s organization and mechanisms for system planning
Units Mainly Narrative
How to measure -
Accuracy As high as possible for forecasts
Examples  Long t erm G eneration Adequacy r eport ( additional MW ne eded or
not, identification of fragile zones…)
 Long term Network Development plan
 Short term adjustments mechanisms description

2.5 Demand-Side Management

From their experience, it was considered by all the WG members that the global issue of Demand-Side
Management i s no t de voted t o T SO. TSO m ay ha ve l aunched D SM pr ogram w ithin t heir c ompany t o
reduce energy c onsumption ( transmission losses, facility m anagement..) bu t u sually, di stribution
companies or suppliers are in charge of DSM for the public.

2.6 System Efficiency

EUSS EU13 : Transmission and distribution efficiency.

The W G considered t hat this indicator i s v ery i mportant and complementary t o E N4. E N4 g ives r aw
values and EU13 should focus on transmission efficiency. The CO2 equivalent content of the transmission
losses is detailed in EN16. The added value of this indicator is to point out system efficiency and to allow
comparisons.
It is also interesting to make comments about the technical choices of infrastructure that have been made
by T SO, i f these c omments g ive a dditional explanations a bout losses (meshed ne twork, unde rground
cables, voltage i n use, premium given to reduced losses de vices i n the pu rchasing proc ess, low l osses
technical specifications…)
Moreover, as the environmental pressure is growing, TSO are required to push the existing network to its
load limits, increasing directly the transmission losses to reduce other environmental impacts due to new
network de velopment. Transmission losses p er op erated circuit length (Wh/km) may give addi tional
information about system efficiency.

WG C3-02 Proposal Transmission efficiency

Justification To demonstrate the company efficiency in reducing transmission losses
Description Electricity used per calendar year
Units Ratio for transmission losses
How to measure Metering or electricity bought on the market to compensate losses
Accuracy High
Examples % of transmission losses compared to total energy transmitted

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3. ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

30 e nvironmental pe rformance i ndicators are g iven by t he G RI V 3.0 g uidelines [ 5]. F rom t he E lectric
Utility Sector Supplement (EUSS) pilot version [6], one new indicator is proposed, 4 indicators dealing
with environmental disclosures on management approach and 9 comments on the GRI indicators.
The WG analysis of these indicators and the content of the Sustainable Development and Environmental
reports led to focus on only 12 most relevant indicators, as mentioned in table 4 and 5.

GRI V3.0 Indicators and Electric Utility Sector Supplement indicators or comments WG C3-02

Core Indicators Additional Indicators selection

Aspect: Materials
EN1 Mat erials used b y weight o r volume.
(+CommEN1)
EN2 P ercentage o f materials u sed t hat ar e
recycled input materials.
Aspect: Energy
EN3 D irect e nergy c onsumption b y pr imary EN5 E nergy s aved d ue t o c onservation a nd EN3
energy source. efficiency improvements.
EN6 I nitiatives to p rovide energy-efficient or EN4
EN4 Indirect energy consumption by primary renewable en ergy b ased p roducts an d s ervices,
source. and reductions in energy requirements as a r esult
of these initiatives.
EN7 I nitiatives to r educe in direct e nergy
consumption and reductions achieved.
Aspect: Water
EN8 Total w ater withdrawal b y source. EN9 W ater s ources s ignificantly af fected b y
(+CommEN8) withdrawal of water.
EN10 P ercentage an d t otal v olume o f water
recycled and reused.
Aspect: Biodiversity
EN11 L ocation an d s ize o f l and o wned, l eased, EN11
managed i n, o r ad jacent t o, protected a reas an d
EN13 Habitats protected or restored.
areas of high biodiversity value outside protected
areas.
EN12 D escription o f significant i mpacts o f EN12
EN14 Strategies, current actions, and future plans
activities, p roducts, a nd s ervices o n b iodiversity EN14 +
for managing i mpacts o n b iodiversity.
in protected areas and areas of high biodiversity
(+CommEN14) CommEN14
value outside protected areas. (+CommEN12)
EN15 N umber o f I UCN Red L ist species a nd EU14
EU14 Biodiversity of replacement habitats
national conservation list species with habitats in
compared to the biodiversity of the areas that are
areas affected by operations by level of extinction
being replaced.
risk.
Aspect: Emissions, Effluents, and Waste
EN18 Initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas EN16
EN16 Total d irect an d i ndirect g reenhouse ga s
emissions an dr eductions ach ieved. EN18 +
emissions by weight. (+CommEN16)
(+CommEN18) CommEN18
EN24 Weight of transported, imported, exported,
or t reated waste d eemed hazardous u nder t he
EN17 O ther r elevant i ndirect g reenhouse gas
terms o f t he B asel C onvention Annex I , I I, I II,
emissions by weight.
and V III, an d p ercentage o f t ransported waste
shipped internationally.

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 EN25 I dentity, s ize, pr otected s tatus, a nd
EN19 E missions of oz one-depleting s ubstances biodiversity value o f water bodies an d r elated
by weight. habitats significantly a ffected b y t he r eporting
organization’s discharges of water and runoff.
EN20 N Ox, S Ox, a nd o ther s ignificant a ir
emissions by type and weight. (+CommEN20)
EN21 T otal w ater d ischarge b y q uality a nd
destination. (+CommEN21)
EN22 +
EN22 Total weight of waste by type and disposal CommEN1
method. (+CommEN22) +
CommEN22
EN23 Total n umber a nd v olume of s ignificant EN23
spills.
Aspect: Products and Services
EN26 In itiatives to mitigate e nvironmental
impacts of pr oducts a nd s ervices, a nd e xtent of
impact mitigation.
EN27 P ercentage of pr oducts s old a nd t heir
packaging materials t hat ar e r eclaimed b y
category.
Aspect: Compliance
EN28 M onetary value o f s ignificant f ines a nd EN28
total number of non-monetary sanctions for no n-
compliance with e nvironmental la ws a nd
regulations.
Aspect: Transport
EN29 S ignificant e nvironmental i mpacts o f
transporting pr oducts a nd ot her goods a nd
materials used f or t he o rganization’s ope rations,
and transporting members of the workforce.
Aspect: Overall
EN30 Total e nvironmental pr otection EN30
expenditures and investments by type.
Table 4: GRI V3.0 and EUSS environmental indicators and comments: WG selection

In addition to this table EUSS pilot version asks for disclosures on management approach to be reported:

Electric Utility Sector Supplement ENvironmental Disclosures on Management Approach WG C3-02

(ENDMA)
Aspect Commentary selection
Long-term strategy for managing and phasing out high level and low level in-service With
Materials PCBs. EN 22
At the watershed level, include collaborative approaches to managing watersheds and Not relevant
reservoirs f or multiple u ses ( e.g., ir rigation, d rinking water, e cosystem c onservation, for TSO
Water etc.). A lso r eport lo ng-term p lanning for s ecuring water r esources, i ncluding
description o f ho w the c riteria f or managing maximum/minimum flow o f surface
water and volume of ground water are determined and maintained.
Report ap proaches f or p est an d v egetation management al ong t ransmission a nd With
Biodiversity distribution c orridors ( e.g., use o f I ntegrated P est M anagement a nd I ntegrated EN 12
Vegetation Management).

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 Management strategy and storage methods for d ifferent types of radioactive nuclear Not relevant
waste, including: for TSO
Emissions, • Temporary and permanent storage
Effluents
and Waste • Environmental, health and safety impacts of radioactive nuclear waste
• Security measures acco rding t ot he ap plicable management
standards/legislative framework
Table 5: EUSS Environmental Disclosures on Management Approach: WG selection

All t hese ind icators d eal with objective im pacts o f the c ompanies’ a ctivities o n the environment. TSO
activities are characterized by objective impacts but also subjective impacts (visual impact for overhead
lines, E MF issue … ). A n E nvironmental A nalysis (see e xample i n f igure 1) , a ccording t o I SO 14001,
leads to the same question. How to deal with visual impact and the EMF issue ?

Vegetation
Impact
Work
Impact
Visual, noise
Impact

SF6, Oil
noise
Impact

Birdlife
Impact

Figure 1: Environmental analysis example for OHL

The WG proposal is to shift the EMF issue and visual impact issue into the social part of the indicators
(see chapter 4: PR1 and SO1). Moreover, taking into account specific TSO impacts given in ESAA [2] or
EA UK [3], it was decided to split them into existing GRI indicators:
Vegetation and painting:
 Impacts to be mentioned in EN 12
 Special programs or actions to be described in EN 14
 Complaints to be listed in EN 28
Pesticide:
 Impacts to be mentioned in EN 12
 Amounts used in EN 22 or EN23
 Special programs or actions to be described in EN 14
 Complaints to be listed in EN 28
R&D:
 Special programs or actions to be described in EN 12 and 14
 Costs in EN 30

16 / 43
 Figure 2: OHL in agricultural area – Source: REN

3.1 Materials
As TSO activities are not requiring a lot of materials, indicators dealing with the use of materials did not
appear t o be r elevant f rom WG poi nt of v iew. Moreover i t w as ne arly i mpossible to find the s ame
indicators among r eports and E nvironmental P erformance g uidelines ( Australian Electricity and UK
Electricity Association): Oil in transformers, even waste amount…

3.2 Energy

GRI EN3 : Direct energy consumption by primary energy source

GRI EN4 : Indirect energy consumption by primary source
The ability of t he r eporting or ganization to use ene rgy ef ficiently can be r evealed by cal culating t he
amount of energy it consumes.

We can find here two different approaches:

 Energy bought or produced to compensate for Transmission losses (Not a “direct energy” EN4)
 Energy consumption for “facility management”: building energy consumption, transportation…
Obviously, transmission losses should be more important than the energy used for facility management or
transportation but it is much more difficult to reduce transmission losses ! The WG recommendation is to
focus at first on the transmission losses estimation and then to go to other energy consumption. Indicator
EU13 i n the E conomic I ndicators S ection o f [6] asks f or transmission l oss factor a s a p icture of t he
system efficiency.

WG C3-02 Proposal Direct and indirect energy use

Justification To give the energy consumption by the organisation and the improvement
Description Fuel used per calendar year
Units  GWh for transmission losses
 GJ (Giga Joules) per source per year
How to measure GWh Metering or estimation for transmission losses

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 Calculate total energy consumption in joules or multiples such as gigajoules
(one b illion Joules) u sing t he f ollowing e quation: T otal di rect e nergy
consumption = di rect p rimary e nergy pur chased + di rect primary e nergy
produced- direct primary energy sold.
Add Indirect energy consumption.
Accuracy Low
Examples  GWh for transmission losses
 GJ for buildings
 GJ for vehicles (for number of kilometres)

3.3 Water
TSO ac tivities ar e not w ater c onsuming. Nevertheless, some subs tations m ay need water for co oling
purpose o r s ome w orks m ay r equire t he u se o f water ( pole painting, t ransformer fan c leaning…).
Indicators dealing with the water consumption didn’t appear to be relevant from WG point of view.

3.4 Biodiversity
GRI EN11 : Location and size of land owned, leased or managed in, or adjacent to, protected areas
and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas:
By reporting on t he potential impact on land that lies within, contains, or is adjacent to legally protected
areas, as well as areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas, an organization can identify and
understand certain risks associated with biodiversity.

Again, we can find here two different approaches:

 Description of bi odiversity protective act ions su ch as bi rd protection, vegetation management
program, wetlands restorations in high biodiversity areas… These actions can’t be considered as
an indicator as such.
 Figures g iven when relevant ( for i nstance p ercent of ci rcuit length in Natura 2 000 ( European
regulation) area, km of lines marked with birdsavers spirals…)…

WG C3-02 Proposal Land in protected areas or in areas of high Biodiversity value

Justification To demonstrate the importance of the land occupied by the organisation in or
adjacent to protected areas
Description Area for buildings, substation and transmission lines
Units  Square kilometre or ha
 Ratio for particular information
How to measure Compute area involved
Accuracy Medium
Examples  km2 or ha managed transmission r ight of w ays i n h igh bi odiversity
areas
 km2 or ha owned for facilities and buildings in high biodiversity areas
 % of a rea in identified biodiversity-rich area i f da ta i s available
compared to total area owned or managed

GRI EN12 : Description of significant impacts of activities, products, and services on biodiversity in
protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value outside protected areas:
This I ndicator pr ovides information on the s ignificant di rect a nd i ndirect impacts of the r eporting
organization on b iodiversity i n pr otected a reas a nd a reas of h igh bi odiversity v alue out side pr otected
areas.

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This in dicator is not a n indicator as s uch but is w idely used to give part of th e E nvironment A nalysis
results under ISO 14001 Standard (see figure 1) or results of Environmental Impact Assessments. In order
to give a figure, some TSO give number of bird collision, number of trees planted... This indicator should
focus on biodiversity, not on other impacts (EMF, visual impact…). This description should be adapted
country by country. Impacts should include permanent and temporary impacts.

WG C3-02 Proposal Significant impacts on protected areas or on areas of high Biodiversity

value
Justification To demonstrate t he effort made by t he or ganisation t o mitigate the possible
impact of its activities
Description Description of t he m ajor impacts on biodiversity ass ociated with activities.
Sites may involve substation or others
Units Description of impacts
How to measure -
Accuracy Low
Examples  Environmental Analysis results
 Environmental Impact Assessment results
 Number of bird collision and animal electrocution
 Description of R & D study to evaluate positive or negative impact of
right of ways

Figure 3: Bird savers spirals implementation on OHL – © Médiathèque RTE / PICART Fabrice

19 / 43
EUSS EU14 : Biodiversity of replacement habitats compared to the biodiversity of the areas that are
being replaced.

Some TSO may have to acquire land to compensate for the land used for substations or OHL. In this case,
this indicator must be reported especially in high biodiversity areas

WG C3-02 Proposal Biodiversity of replacement habitats

Justification To demonstrate the efforts made by the organisation to compensate impacts
Description Description of the land compensation process
Units  Square kilometre or ha
 Biodiversity inventory
How to measure Compute area involved
Accuracy Medium
Examples  km2 or ha of land acquired for compensation
 Biodiversity t ype or i nventory of t he l and us ed f or s ubstations a nd
OHL vs biodiversity type or inventory of the land acquired

Figure 4: Bonelli’s eagle inventory – © Médiathèque RTE / ROUX Lionel

20 / 43
GRI EN14: Strategies, current actions, and future plans for managing impacts on biodiversity.
This i ndicator e nables bo th i nternal a nd e xternal stakeholders t o analyze h ow w ell t he r eporting
organization’s strategies, current actions, and future plans address potential impacts on biodiversity.
CommEN14: Strategies, current actions, and future plans for managing impacts on biodiversity: Report
the impacts and mitigation measures of new sites and existing sites to the following:
• Forested areas (e.g., alterations to crown density);
• Landscape (e.g., impacts of wind farms, transmission lines);
• Freshwater and wetland ecosystems (e.g., downstream water quality including turbidity,
sedimentation, siltation and water quality of reservoir areas)
• Assessment and mitigation should consider alterations in the migration, breeding, or habitat of
animals (e.g., fish passage) from the reporting organization’s infrastructure (e.g., power lines
and dams) (in Compilation section 2.3).
CommENDMA Report approaches for pest and vegetation management along transmission and
distribution corridors (e.g., use of Integrated Pest Management and Integrated Vegetation Management).

EN 12 focuses on the impacts description of TSO activities on biodiversity in protected areas and areas of
high biodiversity value outside protected areas, whereas EN 14 s hould focus on pr ogrammes or actions
that TSO may have launched to manage these impacts during both work and operating phases.
EN 14 is not used by all TSO but examples are given mainly concerning birdlife protection by the use of
nesting a rea… E N14 s hould be us ed t o i ntroduce pr ograms s uch a s v egetation management pr ogram,
birdlife protection program, landscape integration, even R&D programs related to this topic.

WG C3-02 Proposal Managing impacts on biodiversity

Justification To de monstrate t he effort m ade by t he o rganisation t o protect and restore
biodiversity
Description Programmes
Units  Description of programmes
 Description of special working procedures (in the protected zones for
exemple)
How to measure -
Accuracy Low
Examples  Operating pr ocedures t aking i nto a ccount s pecific precautions in
relation w ith pr otected zones (e.g.: m aintenance out o f n esting
period, specific machines used in protected zones…)
 Vegetation management program
 Pesticide management program
 Wildlife protection or restoration policy
 Description of R & D study to evaluate impacts mitigation programs
on biodiversity, landscape…

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 Figure 5: Vegetation management– © Médiathèque RTE

From the commentaries on ENvironmental D isclosures on Management Approach (ENDMA), the W G

thought it w as i mportant t o g ive s ome i nformation a bout pest a nd vegetation m anagement a long
transmission corridors (e.g., use of Integrated Pest Management and Integrated Vegetation Management).
We t hink t hat this ha s t o be r eported w ithin E N14 and i nformation s hould be g iven a bout t he us e of
pesiticide in the Right Of Way, in the substations or both. Amounts should be reported in the Emissions,
Effluents and Waste section.

3.5 Emissions, Effluents, and Waste

GRI EN16 : Total direct and indirect green-house gas emissions by weight.:
Report total g reenhouse g as em issions a s t he sum of di rect an d indirect em issions i n tonnes o f C O2
equivalent.
Further details on the compilation of this Indicator are available in the WRI /WBCSD GHG Protocol and
in the IPCC document

All TSO give figures concerning SF6 released. SF6 can be considered on a first stage as the major source
of direct emissions of GHG. The global warming potential of SF6 is 23800 higher than CO2. GHG due to
transportation means wasn’t considered as important.
Obviously, indirect emissions due to the transmission losses CO2 are higher than the CO2 eq of the SF6
released (depending on the generation mix) but all TSO focus on S F6. Few of them include transmission
losses.
The choice of the Unit is important and should be % of SF6 released compared to SF6 installed if a fair
comparison is sought. Nevertheless, CO2 eq of the transmission losses should be given.

22 / 43
WG C3-02 Proposal Direct and Indirect Greenhouse Gases emissions
Justification To d emonstrate the e ffort made by t he c ompany t o c ontrol its d irect a nd
indirect emissions
Description Description of the Greenhouse Gases emissions
Units Direct emissions:
 Tonnes
 CO2 eq in tonnes
 %
Indirect emissions:
 CO2 eq in tonnes
How to measure Direct emissions:
A dedicated procedure has to be set up in order to measure the SF6 released
(SF6 bottle weighing before and after filling…)
Indirect emissions:
If the origin of the energy used for the transmission losses is known, one has
to apply C O2 values corr esponding t o the en ergy source ( e.g ( g/kWh).:
Nuclear 0, Water 0, Renewables 0, CCGT: 360, Coal: 900, Oil: 750).
Accuracy Medium
Examples Direct emissions:
 SF6 released in tonnes (does not allow comparisons)
 CO2 eq in tonnes
 % of SF6 released / in use
Indirect emissions:
 CO2 eq in t onnes c orresponding to the t ransmission l osses
(information about the energy used content to be given)

Figure 6: Gas Insulated Switchgear– © Médiathèque RTE / WEYL Laurent

23 / 43
GRI EN18 : Initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reductions achieved:
 Report initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, include the areas where the initiatives were
implemented.
 Report qua ntitatively t he e xtent g reenhouse g as emissions r eductions a chieved dur ing t he
reporting period as a direct result of the initiative(s) in tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Tracking and reducing g reenhouse g as em issions can improve t he ov erall l ife cy cle p erformance o f
products and services, and serve as part of a comprehensive design-for-environment program.
CommEN18: This should be a core indicator for the sector.

This indicator is considered as an additional indicator in the GRI V3.0 guidelines, but ranked as core with
the EUSS pilot version. The working group considered this indicator as very important. Actions on SF6 or
losses reduction should be described.

WG C3-02 Proposal Greenhouse Gases emissions reduction due to voluntary actions

Justification To d emonstrate t he e ffort m ade by t he c ompany t o r educe i ts d irect a nd
indirect emissions
Description Actions and results of GHG emissions reductions
Units Direct emissions:
 Tonnes
 CO2 eq in tonnes
Indirect emissions:
 CO2 eq in tonnes
How to measure Direct emissions:
A dedicated procedure has to be set up in order to measure the SF6 released
(SF6 bottle weighing before and after filling…)
Indirect emissions:
If the origin of the energy used for the transmission losses is known, one has
to apply CO2 values corresponding to the energy source (e.g (g/kWh).:
Nuclear 0, Water 0, Renewables 0, CCGT: 360, Coal: 900, Oil: 750).
Accuracy Medium
Examples Direct emissions:
 SF6 emissions a voided ( improvements of w orking pr ocedures, l eak
management program, low SF6 impact device selection…
 CO2 eq in tonnes
Indirect emissions:
 CO2 eq in tonnes corresponding to the transmission losses reduction
due to voluntary actions (directly on the losses amount or on the CO2
content of energy bought or produced for compensation)

GRI EN22: Total weight of waste by type and disposal method:

Data on waste generation figures over several years can indicate the level of progress the organization has
made t oward w aste r eduction efforts. It can a lso i ndicate po tential i mprovements in pro cess e fficiency
and productivity.
CommEN22: Include PCB waste (in kilograms or litres)
CommENDMA: Long-term strategy for managing and phasing out high level and low level in-service
PCBs.

All TSO give figures concerning wastes with the amount by type and frequently the recycling rate. TSO
should have a special focus on oil and PCB. Long-term strategy for managing and phasing out high level
24 / 43
and l ow level in -service P CBs shoul d be de scribed, as r equired in the ENvironmental D isclosures o n
Management Approach section.
On a first stage, TSO s hould focus on the figures concerning t he waste inventory and t heir destination.
Then, if known, the percentage per destination.

WG C3-02 Proposal Waste management

Justification To demonstrate the effort made by the company to control its waste
Description Figures co ncerning w aste management and description of sp ecific ac tions
including PCB management
Units  kg or Tonnes
 Waste disposal (composting, reuse, recycling, recovery, incineration,
landfill, deep well injection, on site storage …)
 Year to substitute all equipments with PCB…
How to measure A de dicated pr ocedure has t o be set up in order to quantify and classify t he
wastes generated. Usually, regulation forces TSO to give these figures
Accuracy Medium
Examples Hazardous waste an d di sposal ( composting, reu se, recycling, re covery,
incineration, l andfill, deep well i njection, on s ite storage … ) : in kg or
Tonnes
 Oil
 Oil with PCB (tonnes of PCB incinerated per year)
 Number of transformer with PCB
 Ratio PCB incinerated / PCB in use
Non H azardous Wa ste and di sposal (composting, reuse, recycling,
recovery, incineration, landfill, deep well injection, on site storage …): in
kg or Tonnes
 Scrap metal, scrap paper …

Figure 7: Transformer maintenance– Source: ELIA

25 / 43
GRI EN23 : Total number and volume of significant spills.
Spills of chemicals, oils, and fuels can have significant negative impacts on the surrounding environment,
potentially affecting soil, water, air, biodiversity, and human health.

In many reports TSO gives figures concerning oil filled cable or transformer leakage. As this impact is
one of the most important objective impacts, TSO should give figures concerning number of l eaks with
the amount a nd t he source ( transformer, c able…) a nd s hould mention P CB pr esence. The a verage leak
rate is interesting additional information from a comparison point of view.
The amount and the kind of pesticide used in relation to treated area may be included in one of these two
indicators (EN22 or EN23).

WG C3-02 Proposal Significant spills

Justification To demonstrate t he c ompany c ontrol on i ncidents a nd particularly oil leaks
(and the use of pesticide)
Description Figures concerning spills and description if any of incidents control policy or
leaks policy
Units  Litre or kg
 %
 Number of incidents
How to measure Leakage during normal operation:
A dedicated procedure has t o be set up in order to measure oil leaks dur ing
normal operation (Oil can weighing before and after filling…)
Incidents:
A dedicated procedure has to be set up i n order to count incidents leading to
oil spillage and to estimate the volume.
Accuracy Medium
Examples Total oil filled cable losses during leaks or incidents:
 Oil (in kg or litres)
 % of oil released / in use
Other oil l osses i n su bstations (transformers…) during leaks or
incidents:
 Oil (in kg or litres)
 % of oil released / in use
Number of incidents
(Total a mount of p esticide used in kg or T onnes o r litres in r elation to
treated area)

26 / 43
 Figure 8: Transformer bay with fire walls and oil separator– © Médiathèque RTE / BARATIER
Laurent

3.6 Product and Services

TSO a ctivities a re no t related w ith pr oduct m anufacturing, e ven though t ransmitting e lectricity c an b e
considered as a service activity. The WG decided not to select this topic.

3.7 Compliance
GRI E N28 : Monetary value of significant fines a nd t otal num ber o f non-monetary sanctions f or
non-compliance with environmental laws and regulations.
The level of non-compliance within the organization helps indicate the ability of management to ensure
that operations conform to certain performance parameters.

Nearly all TSO give figures concerning number of violations or incidents reported to the regulator. Some
TSO give the fines amount. This indicator is considered as important because it gives a general overview
of the company performance in the environmental field. Moreover, environmental regulation is becoming
heavier and to stay in compliance with the regulation mean a new regulation survey mechanism.
In addition to regulation compliance, a survey of public complaints is interesting (see PR5).

WG C3-02 Proposal Compliance with environmental regulations

Justification To de monstrate the company control on e nvironmental regulation
compliance.
Description Description of non-compliance with environmental regulations and figures
Units  Number
 Monetary units for fines
How to measure -
Accuracy High
Examples  Number of non-compliance leading to regulatory action
 Fine amount

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3.8 Overall
GRI EN30 : Total environmental protection expenditures and investments by type.
Measuring environmental m itigation and protection expenditures al lows org anizations t o assess the
efficiency of the ir e nvironmental initiatives. It a lso pr ovides v aluable input for in ternal c ost-benefit
analyses.

Some TSO give f igures. Most of WG members indicate that this may need an improvement of the
accounting system. It was also said that it might be interesting to have these figures project by project and
on the whole. R&D costs have to be included.

WG C3-02 Proposal Environmental expenditures

Justification To demonstrate the company control on environmental expenses.
Description Description of the different costs induced by environmental protection, item
per item.
Units Monetary units
How to measure From financial accounting management systems
Accuracy High or low, depending from the software accuracy…
Examples Environmental costs (breakdown example)
INVESTMENTS :
 Environmental expenditures i n relationship with the de sign a nd
construction of new facilities
 Resettlement of pe ople leaving ne ar right o f w ays ( in some
countries)…
EXPENSES:
 Waste disposal
 Emissions treatment if any
 Remediation costs (Soil decontamination, Noise control)
 Prevention c osts (Soil pol lution pr otection, e nvironmental
improvements a t sub stations, preventive a nd corrective measures a t
facilities in service)
 Biodiversity a nd l andscape pr otection ( protection of bi rdlife,
protection of vegetation, preservation of protected nature reserves)
 Environmental management costs (training and communication,
overheads of e nvironment d epartment p ersonnel, E nvironment
Management System, Research and Development)

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Figure 9: Substation integration– Source: ELIA

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4. SOCIAL PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

40 social p erformance i ndicators ar e g iven in the G RI V 3.0 guidelines [5]. From t he E lectric U tility
Sector S upplement (EUSS) pi lot v ersion [6], 9 ne w indicators a re p roposed, 6 indicators de aling w ith
social disclosures on management approach and 6 comments on the GRI indicators.
The WG analysis of these indicators and the content of the Sustainable Development reports analysed led
to focus on 13 most relevant indicators, as mentioned in table 6 and 7.

GRI V3.0 Indicators and Electric Utility Sector Supplement indicators or comments WG C3-02

Core Indicators Additional Indicators selection

LABOUR PRACTICES AND DECENT WORK
Aspect: Employment
LA1 T otal w orkforce b y e mployment t ype, LA3 B enefits pr ovided t o f ull-time e mployees
employment contract, and region. (+CommLA1) that a re n ot pr ovided t o t emporary or pa rt-time
employees, by major operations.
EU16 Total subcontracted workforce.
EU17 Percentage of contractors and
subcontractors that have undergone relevant
health and safety training.
LA2 Total number and rate of employee turnover
by age group, gender, and region.
Aspect: Labour/Management Relations
LA4 P ercentage o f e mployees co vered b y
collective bargaining agreements. (+CommLA4)
LA5 M inimum n otice p eriod(s) r egarding
significant o perational ch anges, i ncluding
whether it is specified in collective agreements.
Aspect: Occupational Health and Safety
LA6 Percentage of total workforce represented in LA7 +
LA7 R ates o f i njury, o ccupational d iseases, l ost
formal j oint management-worker health a nd CommLA7
days, and absenteeism, and total number of work-
safety co mmittees t hat h elp monitor an d ad vise
related fatalities by region. (+CommLA7)
on occupational health and safety programs.
LA8 E ducation, t raining, c ounseling, p revention, LA9 H ealth and s afety topics covered i n formal
and r isk-control p rograms in p lace to a ssist agreements with trade unions. Health and s afety
workforce members, their families, or community topics co vered i n f ormal ag reements with t rade
members regarding serious diseases. unions.
Aspect: Training and Education
LA11 P rograms f or s kills management a nd LA10
LA10 Average ho urs o f training p er year p er lifelong l earning t hat support t he c ontinued
employee by employee category. employability o f e mployees and a ssist t hem i n
managing career endings.
LA12 Percentage of employees receiving regular LA12
performance and career development reviews.
Aspect: Diversity and Equal Opportunity
LA13 C omposition of governance bodi es a nd
breakdown o f e mployees p er cat egory acco rding
to ge nder, a ge gr oup, minority gr oup
membership, and other indicators of diversity.
LA14 Ratio of basic salary of men to women by LA14
employee category.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Aspect: Investment and Procurement Practices

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HR1 P ercentage an d t otal n umber o f s ignificant HR3 Total hours of employee training on policies
investment agreements that include human rights and pr ocedures c oncerning aspects of hum an
clauses or that have undergone human rights rights t hat ar e r elevant t o o perations, i ncluding
screening. the percentage of employees trained.
HR2 P ercentage o f s ignificant s uppliers an d
contractors that have undergone screening on
human rights and actions taken.
Aspect: Non-discrimination
HR4 Total number of incidents of discrimination
and actions taken.
Aspect: Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
HR5 O perations id entified i n which the r ight to
exercise freedom o f as sociation an d co llective
bargaining may be at significant risk, and actions
taken to support these rights. (+CommHR5)
Aspect: Child Labor
HR6 O perations i dentified a s ha ving significant
risk for i ncidents o f c hild l abor, a nd m easures
taken to c ontribute to the e limination o f c hild
labor.
Aspect: Forced and Compulsory Labor
HR7 O perations i dentified a s ha ving significant
risk for i ncidents of forced or c ompulsory l abor,
and measures ta ken to contribute to th e
elimination of forced or compulsory labor.
Aspect: Security Practices
HR8 Percentage o f s ecurity personnel t rained in
the o rganization’s pol icies or pr ocedures
concerning as pects o f h uman r ights t hat ar e
relevant to operations.
Aspect: Indigenous Rights
HR9 Total number of incidents of violations
involving rights of indigenous people and actions
taken.
SOCIETY
Aspect: Community
SO1 N ature, s cope, an d effectiveness of an y SO1 +
programs a nd p ractices t hat assess a nd manage CommSO1
the i mpacts of ope rations on c ommunities,
including e ntering, o perating, a nd e xiting.
(+CommSO1)
EU21 Number of people displaced by new or EU21
expansion projects related to generation facilities
and transmission lines, broken down by physical
and economic displacement.
Aspect: Corruption
SO2 P ercentage a nd t otal num ber of bus iness
units analyzed for risks related to corruption.
SO3 P ercentage o f e mployees t rained i n
organization’s a nti-corruption pol icies a nd
procedures.
SO4 Actions ta ken i n r esponse to in cidents o f
corruption.
Aspect: Public Policy

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 SO6 T otal v alue o f f inancial an d in-kind
SO5 Public p olicy p ositions and participation in
contributions to political p arties, politicians, and
public policy development and lobbying.
related institutions by country.
Aspect: Anti–Competitive Behavior
SO7 T otal n umber of l egal a ctions for a nti-
competitive b ehavior, a nti-trust, a nd monopoly
practices and their outcomes.
Aspect: Compliance
SO8 Monetary value of significant fines and total SO8
number of non-monetary s anctions for no n-
compliance with laws and regulations.
PRODUCT RESPONSIBILITY
Aspect: Customer Health and Safety
PR1 Life cycle stages in which health and safety PR2 Total n umber of i ncidents of non- PR1 +
impacts of products and services are assessed for compliance with regulations and voluntary codes CommPR1
improvement, an d p ercentage o f s ignificant concerning health and safety impacts of products
products an d s ervices cat egories s ubject t o s uch and services, by type of outcomes.
procedures. (+CommPR1)
EU24 Number of injuries and fatalities to the
public involving company assets, including legal
judgements, settlements and pending legal cases
of diseases.
Aspect: Products and Service Labeling
PR3 Type of pr oduct a nd s ervice i nformation PR4 Total n umber of i ncidents o f non-
required b y p rocedures, and p ercentage o f compliance with regulations and voluntary codes
significant pr oducts and services subject to such concerning p roduct a nd s ervice i nformation a nd
information requirements. labeling, by type of outcomes.
PR5 P ractices r elated t o cu stomer s atisfaction, PR5
including results o f surveys measuring c ustomer
satisfaction.
Aspect: Marketing Communications
PR7 Total n umber of i ncidents of non-
PR6 P rograms f or a dherence t o l aws, s tandards,
compliance with regulations and voluntary codes
and v oluntary co des r elated t o m arketing
concerning marketing communications, including
communications, i ncluding a dvertising,
advertising, promotion, a nd s ponsorship, b y t ype
promotion, and sponsorship.
of outcomes.
Aspect: Customer Privacy
PR8 T otal n umber o f s ubstantiated co mplaints
regarding b reaches o f cu stomer p rivacy an d
losses of customer data.
Aspect: Compliance
PR9 Monetary value of significant fines for non-
compliance with laws and regulations concerning
the provision and use of products and services.
Aspect: Access
EU25 Percentage of population unserved in
licensed distribution areas, broken down by
population in rural areas and urban areas.
EU26 Number of residential disconnections for
non-payment, broken by duration of
disconnection.
EU27 Power outage frequency. EU27
EU28 Average power outage duration. EU28
EU29 Average plant availability factor by energy
source and by country or regulatory regime.

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 Table 6: GRI V3.0 and EUSS social indicators and comments: WG selection

In addition to this table EUSS pilot version asks for disclosures on management approach to be reported:

Electric Utility Sector Supplement Social Disclosures on Management Approach WG C3-02

Aspect Commentary selection

Labor / EU15 Processes to ensure retention and renewal of skilled workforce.. No
Employment
EU18 P articipatory d ecision making p rocesses with s takeholders an d o utcomes o f EU18
Society / engagement.
Community
EU19 Approach to managing the impacts of involuntary displacement
Society / EU20 Contingency planning measures and disaster/emergency management plan and EU20
Disaster / training programs, and recovery/restoration plans.
Emergency
Planning a nd
Response
Product EU22 P rograms, i ncluding t hose i n p artnership with government, t o i mprove o r No
Responsibility maintain access to electricity services.
/ Access
Product EU23 P ractices t o ad dress l anguage, c ultural, l ow l iteracy an d acce ssing a nd s afely No
Responsibility using electricity services.
/ P rovision o f
information
Table 7: EUSS Social Disclosures on Management Approach: WG selection

13 i ndicators out of 55 m ay be considered as a too small number. It had been difficult to establish t his
short list because a lot of these GRI V3.0 and EUSS indicators are covered by regulations in most of the
countries (for instance those related to human rights, non discrimination, child labour and forced
labour…). Moreover, as seen in chapter 1.2, most of the Sustainable Development reports are issued in
developed countries where regulations related to this topic do exist.
As a cons equence, it was decided to keep indicators that reflect the commitments of TSO, in addition to
regulations. Of course, the indicators choice is very dependant from the local regulations regarding these
issues.
As m entioned e arlier, i t w as de cided to include the EMF i ssue i nto the s ocial pa rt o f t he i ndicators,
especially in PR1.

LABOUR PRACTICES AND DECENT WORK

4.1 Employment
Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.2 Labour / Management Relations

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.3 Occupational Health and Safety

GRI LA7 : Rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and absenteeism, and total number of
work-related fatalities by region. (total workforce + independent contractors)
CommLA7: Include subcontractors in the reporting

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This indicator is used by all TSO and considered important. It gives information about Health and Safety
management within the company. A dditional information a bout employees morale and motivation is
given by the absentee rate.
GRI V3.0 indicates that the guidelines for reporting the statistics should be the ‘ILO Code of Practice on
Recording a nd N otification of O ccupational A ccidents and D iseases’. Where na tional laws r equire
reporting on that type of indicator, indication of the calculation system should be given.
EUSS r equires t o a dd s ubcontractors in this indicator, a s a l ot of w ork i s ou tsourced. R eporting a bout
subcontractors is considered relevant by the WG members. Nevertheless, it appears to be difficult to have
precise figures, even though it is required by contract.

WG C3-02 Proposal Health and Safety rates

Justification To demonstrate the effort made by the organisation toward improving i ts
employee's health
Description Rates
Units No unit (Frequency)
How to measure Human resources data
Accuracy High
Examples  Fatalities
 Injury rate
 Occupational Diseases Rate
 Lost Day Rate
 Absentee Rate

Example from Canada: Incidents: e.g. Freq. = ((Medical Aids + Loss of time)
X 200 000)/Worked hour

Figure 10: Work on OHL– Source: José Antunes for REN

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4.4 Training and Education
GRI LA10 : Average hours of training per year per employee by category of employee.
(e.g. s enior m anagement, m iddle m anagement, pr ofessional, technical, a dministrative, pr oduction a nd
maintenance)

All TSO focus on training, especially on environmental training. This point is considered as important.

WG C3-02 Proposal Average hours of training

Justification To demonstrate the effort made by the organisation toward improving i ts
employee's knowledge
Description Total hou rs of t raining pe r em ployee ca tegory / T otal em ployees pe r
employee category
Units Hours (or days)
How to measure Human resources data
Accuracy High
Examples  Average hours (or days) of training per employee
 Average hours (or days) of environmental training per employee

GRI L A12 : P ercentage o f e mployees receiving regular p erformance an d car eer d evelopment
reviews.

This indicator is c omplementary to LA10 as it g ives a dditional information to the way the e mployee’s
career is taken into account in the long term in the management process.

WG C3-02 Proposal Performance and career development review

Justification To demonstrate the effort made by the organisation toward improving i ts
human capital
Description Total em ployees w ho received a f ormal pe rformance ap praisal and review
during the reporting period / total number of employees
Units %
How to measure Human resources data
Accuracy High
Examples -

4.5 Diversity and Equal Opportunity

GRI LA14 : Ratio of basic salary of men to women by employee category.

Some companies do mention female / male ratio or other indicators of diversity. Because TSO activities
have usually low female / male ratio, the WG decided to focus on salary equity between men and women
workers. “Where unbalance exists, an organization runs a risk to its reputation and legal challenges on the
basis of discrimination.”

WG C3-02 Proposal Female discrimination

Justification To demonstrate the effort made by the organisation toward equal pay to equal
value
Description Basic salary of men to the basic salary of women for each employee category
Units %

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 How to measure Human resources data
Accuracy High
Examples -

HUMAN RIGHTS

Human Rights are considered by WG members as fully integrated in most of the TSO companies. If so,
the i ndicators do not appear a s r elevant as these GRI V 3.0 and EUSS i ndicators ar e cov ered by
regulations in most of the countries.

4.6 Investment and Procurement Practices

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.7 Non-Discrimination
Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.8 Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.9 Child Labor

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.10 Forced and Compulsory Labor

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.11 Disciplinary Practices

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.12 Security Practices

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.13 Indigenous Rights

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

SOCIETY
4.14 Community
GRI SO1 : Nature, scope, and effectiveness of any programs and practices that assess and manage
the impacts of operations on communities, including entering, operating, and exiting.

CommSO1: Include discussions of programs related to:

• Influx of w orkers a nd impacts on ne ighbouring c ommunities (including c hanges t o local social
structures and culture);
• Changes to land-use including loss of global commons (e.g. access to land, natural resources, and
heritage);
• Impacts on infrastructure (e.g. r oads, hou sing), a nd a ccess t o s ervices ( e.g. e ducation, u tilities,
healthcare); and
• Changes to the aesthetics and quality of the landscape (in Compilation section 2.4).

This indicator is used by most TSO. Some of them explain their policy to manage impacts on community
areas.

36 / 43
From a network development point of view, Technical Brochure 274 “Consultation Model for overhead
line projects” from SC B2 WG-B2.15 and Technical Brochure 250 “Technical and environmental issues
regarding the integration of a new HV underground cable system in the network” from SC B1 WG-B1.19
gives additional i nformation a bout i mpacts m anagement. C onsultation process s hould b e de scribed i n
EUSS EU18. Visual impact management should be mentioned in this indicator.

WG C3-02 Proposal Impact Management on Community

Justification To demonstrate the effort made by the organisation toward managing impacts
on community
Description Description of the procedures set up to manage impact on community
Units No unit
How to measure -
Accuracy Medium
Examples Description of E nvironmental I mpact Assessment contents f or ne w projects
or m aintenance a ctivities (including pos t e valuation or f ollow up s tudies,
according to local regulation)

Figure 11: Substation integration in urban area– © Médiathèque RTE / LARVOR Gilles

EUSS EU18 : P articipatory decision m aking processes with s takeholders and ou tcomes o f
engagement.

This indicator i s v ery de pendant f rom l ocal regulations. I n m any c ountries, t he c onsultation pr ocess is
strictly framed by law.

37 / 43
 WG C3-02 Proposal Consultation process
Justification To de monstrate t he e fforts made t o t ake i nto a ccount s takeholders poi nt of
view
Description Description of the consultation process
Units -
How to measure -
Accuracy High
Examples  Description of consultation process
 Average duration of t he consultation process f or ov erhead l ines,
underground cables, substations…

EUSS EU21 : N umber of p eople d isplaced b y new or ex pansion p rojects rel ated t o generation
facilities and transmission lines, broken down by physical and economic displacement.

This indicator is very dependant from local regulations too. Some regulations do not allow people living
in the Right Of Way. Hence, people displacement may occur, particularly in high density areas.
The major difficulty with this indicator is that it does not reflect the efforts made by the company in the
consultation pr ocess. The important poi nt is to explain why from all alternatives, t he final one was
decided, leading to people displacement, and to compare it with the other ones. This should highlight the
company performance.

WG C3-02 Proposal People displacement

Justification To demonstrate the efforts made to reduce people displacement
Description Number of person displaced
Units Number
How to measure On a project basis
Accuracy High
Examples  Number of person displaced because of the project compared to other
alternatives.
 Number of houses bought
 Description of the displacement process

4.15 Corruption
Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.16 Public Policy

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.17 Anti-Competitive Behavior

Considered by the WG members as a legal compliance in most of the countries.

4.18 Compliance
GRI S O8 : Monetary va lue o f significant fines an d t otal n umber o f n on-monetary sanctions f or
non-compliance with laws and regulations.

This indicator is complementary to EN 28 that deals with environmental laws and regulations.

38 / 43
 It used by so TSO to give an overview of how compliant with regulations they are. This indicator may
also be used to report performances achieved with respect to t he objectives given by t he regulation
authority (Power Quality…)

WG C3-02 Proposal Compliance with regulations

Justification To demonstrate the company control on regulation compliance
Description Description of non-compliance with regulations and figures
Units  Number
 Monetary units for fines
How to measure -
Accuracy High
Examples  Number of non-compliance leading to regulatory action
 Fine amount

4.19 Disaster / Emergency Planning and Response

EUSS EU20 : Contingency planning measures and disaster/emergency management plan and training
programs, and recovery/restoration plans.

Because el ectricity i s v ery i mportant f or our society, black out s a ppear t o be una cceptable. As a
consequence TSO are usually in charge of emergency plan to reduce consequences and restore electricity
supply.
On the long and medium term EUSS EU9 gives information on the system planning and therefore on the
capability of t he com pany t o make i ts n etwork r esistant t o em ergency si tuations. Nevertheless, m ajor
storms, fires, lightning, may affect the grid.

WG C3-02 Proposal Emergency planning and Response

Justification To demonstrate the efforts made to anticipate emergency situations
Description Description of i nternal procedures t o r educe the c onsequences of
disasters/emergencies and recovery/restoration plans
Units -
How to measure -
Accuracy Medium
Examples  Disaster/emergency organisation and management plan
 Recovery/restoration organisation and management plan
 Number of training made per year…

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PRODUCT RESPONSIBILITY

4.20 Customer Health and Safety

GRI PR1 : Life cycle stages in which h ealth an d sa fety impacts o f p roducts and s ervices ar e
assessed for improvement, and percentage of significant products and services categories subject to
such procedures.

CommPR1: Processes for assessing community health risks including monitoring, prevention measures
and, if applicable, long term health-related studies (in Compilation section 2.1).

This indicator is not an indicator as such. Some TSO give the results of the ir pr evention policy
(increasing publ ic a wareness o f he alth a nd s ecurity). N umber of a ccidents i n r elationship w ith the
infrastructure can also be reported, although a dedicated indicator (EUSS EU24) was not selected by the
WG.
WG members think that the EMF policy should be described in this indicator.

WG C3-02 Proposal Third Party Health and Safety

Justification To demonstrate the effort made by the organisation toward improving health
and safety in the infrastructure neighbourhood
Description Description o f pol icy c oncerning t hird pa rty he alth a nd s afety i n t he
infrastructure neighbourhood, including EMF consequences.
Units Number
How to measure Third parties accidents in relationship with the organisation infrastructure are
usually known by companies. If not, a dedicated procedure has to be set up in
order to measure these accidents
Accuracy High
Examples EMF
 EMF standard limits in use (public and employees)
 List of research projects or long term studies on EMF (+ amount of
money)

Accidents (EUSS EU24):

 Number of reported third party accidents
 Money s pend i n p ublic advertising on s afety i n t he i nfrastructure
neighbourhood

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 Figure 12: OHL in urban area– Source: ELIA

4.21 Product and Service Labeling

GRI P R5 : Practices re lated to customer sa tisfaction, including results of su rveys m easuring
customer satisfaction.

This indicator is used by all TSO to give the number of claims and queries. Some of them also measure
the population satisfaction and the customer satisfaction.
From a customer point of view, ISO 9001 Standard is based on customer satisfaction. As TSO are oftenly
ISO 9001 certified, a customer satisfaction measurement procedure does exist. Results can be given.
From a ne ighbouring poi nt o f v iew, i t is r equired by I SO 14001 S tandard that a review of t he
communications f rom ext ernal “interested parties” h as t o be m ade. Hence, procedures to catch these
communications may e xist within ISO 14001 c ertified companies and can be described. Results can be
given.

WG C3-02 Proposal Customer Satisfaction and Interested Party Concerns

Justification To demonstrate the effort made by the organisation toward customer and
neighbour satisfaction
Description Description of po licies c oncerning t oward c ustomer a nd neighbour
satisfaction and related figures
Units Number
How to measure Customer satisfaction survey (sampling, special group of discussion).
Interested party concerns survey (sampling, special group of discussion)
Accuracy High
Examples Customer satisfaction:
 Number of v ery sat isfied, satisfied, unsatisfied and v ery uns atisfied
customers or ratio of customer satisfaction
Interested party concerns:
 Number of queries, complaints
 Distribution (% indemnities, % EMF, % audible noise, % aesthetical
issues …)

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4.22 Marketing Communications
This indicator is usually not used by TSO.

4.23 Customer Privacy

This indicator is usually not used by TSO.

4.24 Compliance
This indicator is usually not used by TSO.

4.25 Access
Two additional indicators from t he Sector supplement were selected, dealing with t he question of short
term reliability and therefore Power Quality performance of the TSO:
- Power outage frequency
- Average power outage duration
They a re ba sed on IEEE 1366 -1998 s tandards, b ut other indicators may be us ed, especially i f they are
required by the r egulation bodies i n a nother c alculation method. N evertheless, comparability s hould be
kept in mind.

EUSS EU27 : Power outage frequency.

Report System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) which is commonly used as a reliability of
supply indicator by electric power utilities

WG C3-02 Proposal Power outage frequency

Justification To demonstrate the efforts made for improving Power Quality
Description SAIFI i s t he a verage num ber of i nterruptions that a customer w ould
experience
Units Interruptions per customer. It is usually measured over the course of a year.
How to measure SAIFI= total num ber of c ustomer i nterruptions / t otal num ber of c ustomers
served
Refer to IEEE Standard 1366-1998
Accuracy High
Examples -

EUSS EU28 : Average power outage duration.

Report System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) which is commonly used as a reliability of
supply indicator by electric power utilities

WG C3-02 Proposal Average power outage duration

Justification To demonstrate the efforts made for improving Power Quality
Description SAIDI is the average outage duration for each customer served
Units Time ( often minutes o r h ours). It i s u sually m easured over t he course o f a
year.
How to measure SAIDI= total duration of customer interruptions / total number of customers
served
Refer to IEEE Standard 1366-1998
Accuracy High
Examples -

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CONCLUSION

One of t he m ajor g oals of t he Working G roup w as to pr ovide a s hort list o f i ndicators t hat should be
reported by T ransmission System Operators because of t heir i mportance. The Working Group will was
not t o provide a n extensive l ist of performance indicators but to chose t hose considered to be the most
relevant and those allowing comparisons.

From t he s tudy of s everal g uidelines a nd f rom about ten S ustainable D evelopment R eports or
Environmental R eports published by t he U tilities, i t appeared t hat t he “ Sustainability R eporting
Guidelines V 3.0” [5] a nd the “Electric Utility Sector Supplement ( Pilot V ersion)” [ 6] published by the
Global Reporting Initiative organization are the major references.
As a c onsequence, the W orking G roup C 3-02 de fined a s et of indicators f rom the G RI g uidelines and
proposed adapted definitions to TSO activities.

This br ochure i s a t echnical doc ument a iming at ass isting T SO i n presenting a ba lanced and relevant
picture of their economic, environmental and social performance to their stakeholders, in transparency.
When defining the indicators, the Working Group kept in mind that these indicators should:
- be relevant
- be accurate
- allow c omparisons against com pany’s ear lier pe rformance as w ell as o ther co mpany’s
performance.

With this s et of i ndicators, TSO S ustainability R eport s hould be a s c omplete a s pos sible f or all
stakeholders.

REFERENCES

[1]: “Sustainability Reporting Guidelines V 2.0” (Global Reporting Initiative - 2002)

[2] “Environmental Performance Indicator guidelines for the Australian Electricity Industry” (Electricity
Supply Association of Australia - 2004)

[3] “Guidance notes on environmental benchmarking indicators for the electricity sector” (UK Electricity
Association - 2001)

[4] “Sustainability in the e lectricity ut ility s ector - Phase 1 ” ( World B usiness Council f or S ustainable
development)

[5] “Sustainability Reporting Guidelines V 3.0” (Global Reporting Initiative - 2006)

[6] “GRI S ustainability R eporting G uidelines & E lectric U tility S ector S upplement ( Pilot Version)”
(Global Reporting Initiative - 2007)

43 / 43
ISBN: 978- 2- 85873- 070-4