04 Objectives and results

Key non-financial figures

Key financial figures

After an extraordinary 2022, 2023 was characterised by more stability. Though energy prices were still higher than they had been in the past, they were considerably less volatile. Various adjustments were made to the gas infrastructure to support the change in gas flows. We will invest further in this in the coming years so that we can continue to meet the security of transmission standards.

Given that approx. 80% of the revenue generated falls under the frameworks of the regulatory authorities – ACM in the Netherlands and BNetzA in Germany – we will be passing on a large part of the additional revenue to our customers over the coming years in the form of lower tariffs. When the revenue to be offset is deducted from the revenue generated, € 1,985 million remains, € 112 million more than last year.

The energy costs associated with gas transmission and transport and gas quality conversion also fell slightly compared to last year, mainly due to lower energy prices. Unlike in 2022, which saw the impairment of the assets of Gasunie Deutschland and BBL, there were no impairments in 2023.

In 2023, the underlying operating result, i.e. the operating result after taking into account settlements from the past and revenue and costs that we need to settle in the future, was € 538 million, € 194 million higher than the underlying operating result for 2022. This can be attributed in part to the impairments in 2022 and the impact of the transactions with BBL and EemsEnergyTerminal in 2023.

Information regarding solvency, liquidity and cash flows is included in the 2023 financial statements, under Note 28 ‘Financial instruments’ and the Consolidated cash flow statement for 2023.

Gasunie’s financing needs will increase in the coming years. Several energy transition projects, or certain parts of these, have now been approved, and other energy transition projects will follow.

For the coming years, we expect an investment level of approximately € 1 billion per year, which could increase if the development of energy transition projects is accelerated.

In December 2024, Gasunie will repay two loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB), one to the tune of € 125 million and the second for € 50 million. In July 2025, Gasunie will repay another € 125 million to the EIB.

In November 2023 we issued our first green bond, for an amount of € 300 million. In 2024, too, our long-term financing needs will be met through green bonds.

In 2021, GTS and market parties filed an appeal against this decision with the Dutch Trade and Industry Appeals Tribunal, the highest administrative court in the Netherlands. GTS’ grounds for appeal concerned the benchmark and the energy costs. GTS was of the view that the robustness of the benchmark study was limited and did not provide a basis for the imposed efficiency discount. Moreover, GTS felt that the research was insufficiently transparent and verifiable. With regard to the price risk of the energy costs, in GTS’ opinion this methodology decision did not apply a post-calculation mechanism as it should have done.

The Tribunal published its final ruling on 4 July 2023. The court ruled that all GTS’ energy costs must be reimbursed, even now that they have risen sharply due to higher energy prices. The court also declared the benchmark for this regulatory period invalid. As a result, the efficiency discount that was applied to GTS’ income has been reversed. The court went further and made it clear what requirements a future benchmark must meet before the regulatory authority may apply this. On 21 December 2023, ACM published its amended methodology decision for GTS for the 2022-2026 period.

Additionally, sector agreements were made on various matters pursuant to NC-TAR (network code regarding harmonised transmission tariff structures for natural gas), with the result that all related objection and appeal proceedings have been concluded and the parties have agreed not to initiate any new proceedings regarding the cases that are part of the sector agreements during the remaining years of the current methodology decision. We expect that the additional sector agreements will be finalised in their present form in Q1 2024.

The amended methodology decision 2022-2026 and the expected decrease in contracted capacities result in an increase in the proposed transmission tariff for 2025 of around 51% on average compared to 2024. The tariff increase follows the sharp 20% decrease for transmission tariffs for the year 2024 compared to the year 2023. On the end-consumer bill, the GTS tariff increase has only a limited effect because the share of GTS transport costs on the total energy bill is very small. ACM will take the decision for the 2025 transmission tariffs in May 2024.

Germany
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the German government has focused on the security of natural gas supply. The German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz) has launched several initiatives to increase the supply of LNG in the short, medium and long term and to ensure that gas storage facilities are sufficiently filled.

Given that Gasunie Deutschland is building pipelines to connect FSRUs and onshore LNG terminals to its network, these initiatives also have an impact on the company. For certain assets under construction that will be commissioned in the coming years, the regulatory authority in Germany has given TSOs the option of depreciating these over a shorter period (up to and including 2045).

Regulatory settlements
The regulatory methodologies applied in the Netherlands and Germany could possibly result in settlements in years to come. Current IFRS accounting rules do not allow regulatory settlements to be recognised on the balance sheet as a receivable or debt. Consequently, under IFRS, we do not recognise regulatory settlements in the year in which they arise, but in the year in which the settlements take place in the tariffs. This causes timing differences between IFRS and the regulatory revenue model, which can result in periodic impairment. Moreover, this gives a distorted picture of the financial result in any given year. In view of the large size of the regulatory settlements, we also present an underlying result in the key figures.

The tariffs for 2023 included a set-off of € 63 million from previous years, consisting of a positive settlement of € 70 million for Gasunie Transport Services and a negative settlement of € 7 million for Gasunie Deutschland. The revenue achieved, energy costs incurred and investments made in 2023 deviate from the standard set by the regulatory authorities in the Netherlands and Germany. For Gasunie Transport Services, this deviation will result in a future receivable of € 171 million and for Gasunie Deutschland this will lead to a future repayment of € 104 million. These amounts will be set off in the tariffs in subsequent years.

As at year-end 2023, a regulatory settlement for a sum of € 226 million needed to be made. This sum consists of an amount payable by Gasunie Transport Services of € 131 million and an amount payable by Gasunie Deutschland of € 95 million. This is an estimate; the regulatory authorities ultimately determine the final settlements. In the table below, we have broken the amounts to be settled down by the periods in which the amounts will be settled in the tariffs on the basis of IFRS policies.