Regulations concerning the business sectors

Tariff regulations for 2018

By means of Resolution 360/2018/R/gas “Final approval of the business revenue for the storage service relative to 2018, for the companies Stogit S.p.A. and Edison Stoccaggio S.p.A.”, published on 29 June 2018, the Authority gave final approval of the reference revenue for the storage service for 2018 for the company Stogit, which considers the annual final equity increases relative to 2017. The recognised revenues amounted to 500.5 million euro. The RAB for storage activities was E4.0 billion.

By means of Resolution 855/2017/R/gas, published on 15 December 2017, the Authority provisionally approved the revenue for the storage service for 2018, as per the proposal presented by Stogit. This is aimed at providing a reference figure for calculating the fees for the allocation of storage capacity.

Temporary period regulations for 2019

By means of Resolution 68/208/R/gas “Start of proceedings for the formation of provision on tariffs and quality of the natural gas storage service for the fifth regulatory period (5PRS) and extension of the criteria in force to 2019”, published on 09 February 2018, the Authority extended for 2019 the tariff criteria of the Storage service in force in the period 2015-2018, confirming the value of the β asset parameter. The procedure was also launched for the review of the criteria for regulatory period 5, which will start from 2020, similarly to the transmission and regasification business, and during which the possibility of implementing a “totex” type regulatory approach, will be considered.

For 2019, the Authority has also extended regulation on the quality of the natural gas storage service for the period 2015-2018.

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 storage business, this value at 6.7% from the previous 6.5% (6.5% 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 the 5 regulatory period.

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

By means of Resolution 696/2018/R/gas, published on 20 December 2018, the Authority provisionally approved the corporate base revenue for the storage service for 2019, as per the tariff proposal presented by Stogit. These revenues came to 499.5 million euro and will be updated upon approval of the definitive revenues, determined using the final equity increases for 2018. The RAB for storage activities was 4.0 billion euro.

Other provisions

Storage service incentive mechanisms

With consultation document 155/2018/R/gas “Introduction of incentive mechanisms for the supply of storage services”, published on 19 March 2018, the Authority considered the introduction of a mechanism that would encourage storage companies to make additional flexibility available with respect to that envisaged in the “basic” storage services. These products will supplement those currently supplied on a monthly, weekly and daily basis and will enable completion of the range of “forward” storage services available, allowing users to benefit from additional services within a prefixed term or to transfer part of their provisions over time.

The premium for the storage company, in addition to the revenue recognised, will be equal to a percentage of the proceeds deriving from the conferral of such products, with an average value expected to be around 40% of these proceeds.

The submission of observations was concluded last 20 April 2018.

Resolution 350/2018/R/gas - “Provisions on settlement relating to storage services for the 2018-2019 thermal year”

With Resolution 350/2018/R/gas published on 22 June 2018, the Authority envisaged, in continuity with the 2017-2018 thermal year, provisions for the issue of sterilising the impact of transferring storage capacity at fees below the regulated tariff, to guarantee the storage companies have a revenue flow that is substantially equivalent to that obtained by applying, to the capacity allocated through auction, of the corresponding tariffs. The resolution envisages the offsetting through the Cassa per i servizi energetici e ambientali (Energy and Environmental Services Fund or “CESA”) of the difference in price between the storage tariff and the price of assignment by auction applied to the capacity conferred, as well as the offsetting of costs for the purchase of transmission capacity, incurred by the storage company.

Moreover, with reference to the proceeds deriving from the sale of capacity released on a day-ahead basis by the transmission operators, the resolution establishes that starting 01 April 2018, storage companies shall pay these proceeds to CSEA (at present, they are rebated to the TSOs) and that the TSOs will pay CSEA the proceeds collected in connection with thermal year 2017-2018.

Resolution 614/2018/R/gas - “Short-term storage services - definition of incentive parameters for the delivery phase”

By this resolution, published on 30 November 2018, the Authority introduced for the delivery phase of Thermal Year 2018-2019, a system of incentives for the supply by Stogit of additional storage capacity with respect to that envisaged in the “basic” storage services.

The incentive mechanism envisages the withholding of a premium by Stogit, in addition to the revenues recognised, equal to a percentage of the proceeds deriving from the conferrals of additional capacity (profit sharing).

The profit sharing is fixed:

• at 100% of the cost function for the purchase and sale of fortnight delivery capacity (advances/postponements of capacity);
• at 30% for the sale of capacity on a monthly, weekly, daily and infra-daily basis.

An increase to 50% is envisaged of the profit sharing pursuant to point (b) when Stogit makes available additional functions relative to the daily and infra-daily capacity conferral process; these functions were activated by Stogit starting 07 January 2019, with the consequent increase to 50% of profit sharing.