Regulations concerning the business sectors

Regulation transition period 2018-2019

Criteria for adjusting the tariffs for the natural gas transport service for the transition period in the years 2018 and 2019

By means of Resolution 653/2017/R/gas, published on 02 October 2017, the Authority approved tariffs for the LNG regasification service for the transitional period 2018-2019. The resolution confirmed the main criteria of the regulation currently in force, with some modifications:

• the asset β parameter was confirmed for the Transitional Period 2018-2019. The WACC value of 6.6% in real pre-tax terms is therefore confirmed for 2018, and will be determined for the year 2019 by updating the basic parameters;
• the investments made in the year t-1 will be included in the investment capital for the purpose of determining the tariffs for year t, replacing the 1% increase in the WACC to cover the regulatory time-lag. The 1% increase in the WACC covering the regulatory time-lag has been applied to investments made in the period 01 January 2014-31 December 2016;
• the input-based incentive scheme (2% for 16 years for the upgrading of regasification capacity) will be applied to new development investments that come into service by 31 December 2017;
• an input-based incentive scheme (1.5% for 12 years) will be applied to investments for constructing new regasification capacities that will become operational in the years 2018 and 2019;
• the operating costs recognised in the fourth regulatory period will be updated according to inflation, and a productivity recovery factor (X-factor);
• the current provisions relating to the revenue coverage factor are confirmed.

Tariff regulations for 2018

With Resolution 878/2017/R/gas, “Determination of the tariffs for the LNG regasification service of the company GNL Italia S.p.A., for the year 2018”, the Authority approved the recognised revenues for the regasification service for the year 2018 on the basis of the proposal presented by GNL Italia. The tariffs were set on the basis of a reference revenue of €26.9 million. The revenue coverage factor has been set at 64% of the reference revenue. As at 31 December 2017, the RAB for regasification activities was €107.9 million.

Update of the rate of remuneration of the invested capital for regulatory purposes (WACC) for 2019

With Resolution 639/2018/R/gas, published on 06 December 2018, the Authority performed the infra-period update of the basic parameters of the WACC common to all regulated infrastructural services of the electricity sector, for the three years 2019-2021 and for the regulated infrastructural services of the gas sector, for 2019, fixing for the regasification business, this value at 6.8% (6.6% for the years 2016-2018).

For infrastructural services other than gas distribution and metering, the Authority has arranged for a gearing level D/E of 1, whilst the Beta parameter will be determined during the rate regulation of the individual businesses, starting 2020. The WACC for the years 2020 and 2021 will be determined after the beta parameter has been set for regulatory period 5.

For more information on the values of the parameters used by the authority to determine the above value, please see the section entitled “Regulation concerning the business segment - Natural gas transmission” of this Report.

Tariff regulations for 2019

With Resolution 695/2018/R/gas, “Approval of the tariffs for the LNG regasification service for the year 2019 and amendments and supplements to the RTRG”, published on 20 December 2018, the Authority approved the recognised revenues for the regasification service for the year 2019 on the basis of the proposal presented by GNL Italia. The tariffs were set on the basis of base revenue of 26.7 million euro. The revenue coverage factor has been set at 64% of the reference revenue. The RAB for regasification activities was 108.7 million euro.

At the same time, the Authority has published the definitive 2018 revenues, based on the final 2017 equity data, which totalled 26.7 million euro.