The movements in the provisions can be broken down as follows:

Provision for environmental management and decommissioning

The provision for environmental management and decommissioning serves to cover future obligations to dispose of hazardous substances and to decommission abandoned high-voltage connections, underground or subsea cable sections, and (antenna) sites. The provision has been stated at net present value. The main assumptions made in this context concern the future price level and a discount rate of 4.0%.

Personnel provisions:

Personnel redundancies

The provision for personnel redundancies serves to cover the costs of redundancies for which the liabilities were incurred before the balance sheet date.

Long-service bonus provision

The group has future liabilities under the Collective Labour Agreement, involving the payment of salary-related bonuses to long-serving and retiring employees. The size of the associated provision has been calculated on the basis of actuarial principles. The main assumptions made in this context concern the annual salary increase of 2.5%, an age-dependent retention rate and a discount rate of 4.0%. The balance at year-end 2008 includes the Collective Labour Agreement commitments relating to the Essent staff who transferred to TenneT as of

1 November 2008.

Health insurance premiums

Future liabilities exist with regard to the payment of health insurance premiums on behalf of company pensioners. The size of the associated provision has been calculated on the basis of the Collective Labour Agreement and actuarial principles. The main assumptions made in this context concern the annual premium increase of 2.0% and a discount rate of 4.0%.

Loss-incurring activities

The provision for loss-incurring activities serves to cover the unavoidable losses resulting from the legally enforceable obligation (under the Independent Grid Administration Act) to manage the 110 kV and 150 kV grids. The provision has been stated at net present value.

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