8. Trade receivables and other current and non-current receivables

Trade receivables and other current and non-current receivables, amounting to €1,902 million (€2,081 million at 31 December 2014) break down as follows:

Trade receivables of €1,677 million (€1,728 million at 31 December 2014) mainly refer to the natural gas transportation (€993 million), distribution (€453 million) and storage (€210 million) segments.

Trade receivables relating to the storage segment (€210 million) include the effects of the addition of revenue connected to the allocation of natural gas storage capacity by auction^11.

Receivables are reported net of the provision for impairment losses of €157 million (€34 million at 31 December 2014). Changes in the provision for impairment losses on receivables during the year are shown below:

The provisions (€45 million) mainly relate to the transportation segment and regard the impairment loss (€41 million including accrued interest) on receivables arising from the balancing service pursuant to Resolution 608/2015/R/gas, with which the Authority provided for partial payment to the Balancing Supervisor (Snam Rete Gas) of uncollected receivables for the period from 1 December 2011 to 23 October 2012¹². With regard to these receivables, the provision for impairment losses totalled approximately €126 million, including the related interest, at 31 December 2015.

Utilisations (€5 million) relate to the excess portion of the provision relating to the distribution sector.

Other changes (€83 million) mainly concern the reclassification from the “Provisions for risks and charges” item of estimated charges arising from commercial balancing at 31 December 2014 (€85 million), which followed the closure by the Authority of the proceedings to determine the share of costs arising from outstanding receivables owing to Snam Rete Gas.

Financial receivables held for operating activities (€78 million) relate to the shareholders’ loan to the associate Trans Adriatic Pipeline A.G. (TAP), which Snam took on under contractual agreements relating to the acquisition of the equity investment¹³. The classification of receivables as “non-current” was based on the contractual agreements in place between shareholders.

The reduction of €216 million in financial receivables not held for operations is due to the closure and simultaneous repayment to Snam of the shareholders’ loan to the jointly owned associate TAG, as part of an operation to refinance the entire debt of TAG through the banking system.

Receivables from investment/divestment activities (€23 million; €13 million at 31 December 2014) concern receivables for public and private grants for investment activities (€17 million) and receivables from the sale of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets (€6 million).

Other receivables (€124 million, the same as at 31 December 2014) break down as follows:

IRES receivables for the national tax consolidation scheme (€34 million, compared with €32 million at 31 December 2014) concern receivables with the former parent company, Eni, relating to the IRES refund request resulting from the partial IRAP deduction relating to tax years 2004 to 2007 (pursuant to Article 6 of Decree-Law 185 of 28 November 2008, converted into Law 2 of 28 January 2009) and tax years 2007 to 2011 (pursuant to Decree-Law 201/2011).

Receivables from the CSEA (€48 million, compared with €49 million at 31 December 2014) relate mainly to additional tariff components in the distribution segment.

The item “Other” (€33 million, compared with €37 million at 31 December 2014) refers mainly to receivables from government authorities in the natural gas distribution segment.

The market value of trade and other receivables is analysed in Note 24 – “Guarantees, commitments and risks – Other information about financial instruments”. All receivables are in euros.

The seniority of trade and other receivables is shown below:

Overdue and non-impaired receivables (€251 million; €254 million at 31 December 2014) relate to the following sectors: (i) storage (€105 million), mainly comprising VAT¹⁴ billed to users for the use of strategic gas withdrawn but not replenished in line with the provisions of the Storage Code; (ii) natural gas distribution (€82 million), mainly relating to transactions with gas marketing companies for the distribution service, covered by guarantee policies, and other receivables from the government; and (iii) transportation (€64 million), mainly relating to moving fees and additional tariffs, for which no impairment loss is registered as they revert to the Authority once they are collected.

Receivables from related parties are described in Note 33 “Related-party transactions”.

Specific information on credit risk can be found in Note 24 “Guarantees, commitments and risks – Financial risk management – Credit risk”.