Annual Report - EDP

notes to the consolidated EDP and - Energias company de Portugal, financial S.A. statementsfor the Notes years to the ended Consolidated 31 december and Company 2012 Financial and Statements 2011for the years ended 31 December 2012 and 2011Vulnerable ConsumersThe Royal Decree 13/2012 defined vulnerable consumers as individuals who meet certain social characteristics of consuption and consumer purchasing powerdetermined by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade. Until then, these customers applied the criteria defined by Royal Decree 6/2009 of 30 April on the socialallowance, which is a subsidy covering the difference between the value of the Tariff of Last Resort (TUR) and the reference value. The decision of the Supreme Court of7 February 2012 canceled the funding rules of the social allowance that was being undertaken by companies with production facilities, so the cost is currently beingfinanced by the electrical system.GasNaturgás, a subsidiary of HC Energia Group which operates in the natural gas distribution and supply, owns all the EDP Group's gas assets in Spain. The transportand distribution of natural gas in Spain is a regulated activity.Law 34/1998, approved on 7 October 1998, amended by Law 12/2007 of 2 July 2007, transposed to Spanish legislation the provisions of Directive 2003/55/EC of theEuropean Parliament and Council of 26 June 2003 related with common rules for the natural gas internal market . Law 34/1998 was updated by the Royal Decree13/2012 of 30 March, incorporating the principles set by the European Parliament and Council’s Directive 2009/72/CE of 13 July which came to repeal the Directive2003/55/CE.The aforementioned legislation identifies the following operators in the context of the supply of natural gas by pipeline:§§§Gas transport companies, owners of facilities for regasification of liquefied natural gas, transport or storage of natural gas. After the publication of Royal Decree13/2012, companies that hold the equipment from the main network of transport must operate and manage their own networks or hand over their managementto an independent operator, in the cases referred by legislation;Distribution companies, owners of distribution facilities, whose function is to distribute natural gas by pipeline, as well as build, maintain and operate suchfacilities in order to bring natural gas to the consumption points;Suppliers, companies that hold access to the facilities owned by third parties, purchase natural gas for sale to consumers or other suppliers for the purpose ofinternational exchanges;§Final consumers, who purchase natural gas for own consumption and direct consumers in the market, who have direct access to third party facilities.The Royal Decree 6/2000 of 23 June, also creates the figure of Technical Manager of the System, which is responsible for the technical management of the basic gasnetwork and secondary transmission network, attributed to ENAGÁS, S.A.The system of provisioning and supplying based on tariffs for natural gas distribution companies expired on 1 July 2008. Since then, new last resort tariffs have beenset, that can benefit consumers who are covered by the regulation (from July 2009 defined as those consuming less than 50,000 kWh / year), and which will beimplemented by the suppliers, who in accordance with Article 82 of Law 34/1998 have an obligation as suppliers of last resort. HC-Naturgás Comercializadora ÚltimoRecurso, S.A. is one of the trading companies designated by the Ministry.For suppliers of last resort, the Royal Decree 485/2009 makes it possible for groups of companies that have the obligation to provide last-resort electricity and gas, toaggregate in a single company both obligations (HC-Naturgás Comercializadora de Último Recurso, S.A. currently covers suppliers obligations of last resort for gasand electricity).The Royal Decree 104/2010 of 5 February, regulates the supplier of last resort in the natural gas sector and establishes that the last resort tariff (TUR) became the onlytariff from 1 January 2010, denying to suppliers of last resort the application of discounts over customers with TUR.Law 15/2012, of 27 December, of Fiscal measures for the Energetic Sustainability, modifies the type of taxes applied to hydrocarbons of natural gas that until this datewas 0% with the exception of vehicle gas, establishes three types of taxes depending of the natural gas use, and the tax payer becomes the supplier rather than thedistributor.The Ministerial Order IET/2812/2012, establishes the tariffs and the revenues related with the access to the gas sector installations by third parties, eliminating therevenues updates for the transport and distribution activities, as it defines as zero the efficiency factor applied to these infrastructures.Activity in the energy sector in BrazilElectricityIn Brazil, the EDP Group generates, distributes, transmits and supplies electric energy through its subsidiary EDP Energias do Brasil, S.A. (EDP Energias do Brasil).In recent years, the brazilian electricity sector has undergone major structural and institutional changes, having migrated from a monopoly run by the State to amarket model, involving private capital. This market model includes the existence of two distinct systems, the regulated system and the liberalised system.Regulated SystemThe Regulated Contracting Environment is for the sale of electricity between generators, energy importers or retailers, selling energy to distributors who in turn, acquireenergy to ensure supply to consumers.The main form of contracting by a distributor concessionaire is through the realization of public auctions regulated by ANEEL. The rules of these auctions are designedso that the winner is the one with the lowest price.174A World Full Of Energy