Calculation method of natural gas distribution companies are changing

EPDK's Procedures and Principles on Amending the Tariff Calculation Procedures and Principles for Natural Gas Distribution Companies were published in today's issue of the Official Gazette. With the amendment, if the reasonable return amount calculated for a tariff application period within the scope of the procedures and principles is lower than the amount corresponding to the ratio of the total fixed and variable operating expense components found by applying the efficiency parameter, the average of the two amounts in question shall be applied to the relevant tariff application period and will be taken into account as the total reasonable return amount. The Board may decide to reflect the effects of all or part of the income differences calculated in accordance with the fourth or fifth paragraph of the article on the tariff determination process of the aforementioned procedures and principles to the current and/or the next tariff implementation period. With the amendment made in the article of the procedures and principles regarding the calculation of system usage fees, if there is no customer in the consumption range of any customer group, the system usage fee to be applied for the relevant customer group will be determined by the board. On the other hand, according to the article in which the general principles regarding regulated operating expenses of the relevant procedures and principles are determined, taxes, duties, fees and similar expenses, excluding Value Added Tax (VAT) and corporate tax, which were previously incurred within the scope of distribution activities, are taken into account in tariff calculations. It was decided to exclude the Banking and Insurance Transactions Tax in the calculations. In addition, all kinds of fines, tax penalties, expenses defined in the financial legislation and not within the scope of the relevant paragraph, as well as court and attorney expenses, are not taken into account in the calculations of regulated operating expenses, while enforcement, arbitration and mediation expenses are also included to these with the amendment. With the paragraph added to the fifth paragraph of the article where the elements of regulated operating expenses are determined, if the distrbution company cannot cover the cost difference between the CNG or LNG purchase prices and the natural gas prices with the system usage fees valid in the tariff application period, or if it earns income above the mentioned cost difference, the difference will be subject to adjustment in the calculations of the next tariff application period.