The government approved the new tax on gas and power transport and distribution, but the taxes were lowered compared with the draft ordinance published two days ago. The tax is set at 0.1 RON/MWh (down from 0.45 RON/MWh) for the gas and power transported to the distribution system and 0.85 RON/MWh (down from 1.7 RON/MWh) for quantity transported solely through the national transportation system. For distributors, the tax will be 0.75 RON/MWh (down from 1.25 RON/MWh) for the gas and power distributed.

The order was published yesterday in the Official Gazette and is applicable starting February 1, 2013 until December 31, 2014. The new tax would be deductible for income tax purposes. From our coverage universe, the companies eligible for the tax are Transelectrica (TEL), Transgaz (TGN) and the private and state owned distributors from Fondul Proprietateas (FP) portfolio.

It is not clear at the moment whether the tax would be pass-through, meaning recognized in the regulated revenues and forward in tariffs, or not.

In case the tax is not recognized in regulated revenues, for Transgaz, assuming a 50/50 split between quantities transported to the distribution network and those transported only through the transport network, the tax would carve roughly RON 52 mn from Transgaz EBIT in 2013.

In the case of Transelectrica, assuming the same 50/50 split between volumes transported to the distribution network and those transported only through the transport network the tax would cut some RON 23 mn from Transelectrica EBIT in 2013.

Even though the tax has been lowered and there are chances for its recognition in tariffs, the implementation of this new tax highlights again that the regulatory risk is high, so we rate the news as neutral.

Source: bne