Good afternoon, welcome to A2A H1 2023 results. I'm Zach, I will be your Operator for the meeting today. During the call, your lines will be muted. You will only be allowed to listen. You will be allowed to ask your questions either during the call or at the end of the call. You can record by selecting hashtag one on the keyboard of your device. In case of need during the call, you can select star zero on the keyboard of your device, and you will be contacted by an Operator. I hand over to Marco Porro, who will start the call this afternoon.
Good afternoon. Thanks for taking part in the conference call to present the results of the first half of 2023. The comments will be made by Renato Mazzoncini, the CEO, and our CFO, Luca Moroni.
It's Friday, last day of the week. Without any further ado, I hand over to Engineer Mazzoncini.
Good afternoon. I would like to welcome you all. Thanks for taking part in this conference call. You have probably read the press release with the figures. We continue to achieve very good results that are confirming, on the one hand, the solidity and the value of the strategic choices which were made with the launch of the first business plan in January 21, over 10 years. On the other hand, since along this journey, there have been events that were fully unexpected.
This has also proved that the great resiliency that the company has had during COVID, and then later when the energy scenario has caused the crazy volatility we have seen the last year and also at the beginning of this year. The fact that we have maintained our growth path. Looking at all CapEx and economic indicators, reflects on the fact that we are heading in the right direction. In the first half of 2023, as usual, there have been positive and negative elements that you see in these slides. Among the most positive elements, we have important work, the hedging of power production, which has made it possible to offset very effectively, the rapidly changing scenario.
The scenario has changed more quickly than one might assume, and this has also been beneficial to the decrease of inflation and to the benefit of consumers. There has been a faster reduction than expected, and this has allowed A2A, since we have done a timely and effective hedging, to have a very sound 2023 performance, as we can see. On the other hand, another important element is the growth, the volumes, the gigawatt per hour, thanks to wind and solar energy. Considering the new perimeter, the takeovers in the field of renewable energies made in 2022, there has been an increase in the mass market customer base, which has been very important. You see, in 2022, this was a key area of attention, and as we can see, there have been two important phenomena.
On the one hand, we have recovered margins, most of all in a larger customer segment, and on the other hand, we have been able to increase by 500,000 the customer base, with, of course, all the positive effects that this has induced. Our financial discipline, keeping the net working capital under tight control, has enabled us to close this first year half with a certainly better results, which go beyond expectations. If we consider the debt EBITDA ratio, this is partially offset by the fact that gas production and, in general, renewable energy production, coal, fuel, oil, for sure, have not reached expectations. This partly stems from the import from France, which has increased.
2022 had been an unusual year from this point of view, so slight downturn in consumption, most of all in winter, when prices were still very high and Italian citizens were very keen on pricing. We have seen 19% energy efficiency also when normalizing daytime temperatures, and are very significant. There has been some reduction in electricity consumption in the industrial sector. This has had an impact on the marginality of district heating. The next slide shows some highlights that we would like to share with you. Let's just focus on the right side of the slide to comment some elements that have already been discussed with some of you.
I would like to underline the fact that the A2A is still moving towards research, and innovation is a changing paradigm on a market that is sometimes all too static, and this is very relevant. We have the know to offer a very innovative proposal on the market. It's a mass market PPAs, so a PPA between the generation business unit and the market. A2A Energia offers long-term contracts based on renewable power stations. As to have a behavior that is comparable to solar panels, to virtual solar panels, home batteries to cover 70% of the energy consumption. This shift in paradigm is very important. It provides evidence that it's possible to do hedging between customer base and renewable energy production. Hedging with mass market, where the churn rate is very low, it causes a greater resilience.
We stand out compared to PPAs that are made with the corporate market. Then we have a City Plug recharging stations. A new idea, low power, low recharging columns, and we are convinced that to cope with the development of urban eMobility, it's necessary to have a low CapEx, a well-scattered recharging stations, rather than having few concentrated recharging points. This is better for the grid, and also if we consider how customers are interacting with this. It's like a homework box scattered all over the cities, like in the center of Milan, where more than 50% people don't have own garage. Then there are also other elements that are extremely important and worth highlighting. We complete the strengthening primary substation networks.
End of 2022, we have opened two, and the one in the province of Brescia, the third one, and other two substations in Milan. The target is to go on increasing CapEx in the electricity grid. If you look at the details, the re, there increase for electricity compared to the same period last year, we have recorded a double-digit increase here, which shows how hard we have been working in CapEx to support the development of a future-proof electricity grid, which is fundamental of course. We have completed the acquisition of a cogeneration power plant in Cologno Monzese, that is part of a strategy to strengthen district heating in the area of Milan.
The most efficient way to have fast return on investment in the decarbonization path for heating application is district heating, but you need to have a sound grid and, of course, producers, so cogeneration power plants. We are working to enter into agreements with the data centers that are providing heat that can be recovered, as we have done with the steelworking plants in the province of Brescia. We have received the authorization to build the Monfalcone plant with the capacity market, one of the main plants in Milan in the field of capacity market. We have Siemens for ITC, and this is yet another important activity.
In the field of collection, we are working to have a well-balanced hedging between waste collection and waste processing, waste treatment, we think it would be wrong to have a collection without treatment of waste. You might have waste abandoned on the street if you don't have a treatment plant, so with a regular control of waste. Treatment without collection entails the running short of stock in the neighboring areas. We are very strong in Lombardy and Piedmont in the field of treatment. We have taken part in a call for bids in Liguria region. We have been awarded at 10 municipalities, Portofino, Rapallo, Chiavari, Santa Margherita Ligure, very important area for waste collection. Also, for ESG indicators, we are improving. There has been an increase in the power of the electricity grid to have more grid safety.
We have reduced water losses by 3%. This is a red-hot topic. We are among the companies that are investing more by citizens. We have a per head investment, a CapEx, that is higher than the European average in that area. In a country like Italy, where we are still below the European average, the emission factor is increasing, this is linked to the duty to maximize non-gas production with fuel oil to ensure energy delivery, and this factor is expected to decrease in the next few months. Next slide. Here, you see the results. That have already been anticipated to you before this call. The performances are very positive. As you can see, we have had an easing of the strong market tensions in 2022, with a reduction in revenues, which is good news.
We have a reduction in net working capital, which makes us more palatable to customers in the mass market and also in the corporate sector, which is not bad. We are trying to change the business model and the kind of relationship we have with our customer base. The reported EBITDA at the same time, increased by 26%, by 27%, the ordinary EBITDA. Here you see the record amount of EUR 868 million, a record level. Net, ordinary net profit follows the trend, has been increasing by 32% to reach EUR 257 million. In relation to these figures, we have a net financial position to EBITDA ratio of 2.6 on a rolling basis, which is lower than expected, looking at the forecast last year.
We have completed an important acquisition in the first year half. We have entered into the capital of a company, which is going to develop a very important solar plant in Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, the largest in northern Italy. 60 MW is the capacity, and at the same time, due to regulatory effects, we have sold to Acque Bresciane, the business unit of ASVT, which was a participated company with Val Trompia municipalities. It's a valley in the province of Brescia, where we had an integrated water service. I hand over to Luca Moroni, the CFO, who will comment the EBITDA in detail.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone on my side, too. A significant growth, up +26% of EBITDA, that brings us to EUR 868 million on an ordinary basis, with a growth driven by the excellent performance of the generation and market BUs. With the other businesses, waste and smart infrastructures, recording a few million euro, more or less, versus the previous year. Let us now look at the key factors determining this growth. We are on slide six, on generation. Generation, as anticipated by Renato, showed a very good performance, especially due to a management, a very effective hedging strategy management, which allowed it to offset some negative elements, especially the lower production from gas plants.
Production based on coal and oil was tough during the second quarter, and also the normalization of MSD margin as anticipated after the first quarter. For this year, particularly good results, but also anomalous results of 2022 are now coming to a normalization stage, reaching levels that are slightly less than half of last year on an annual basis. Very good, especially thinking about a portfolio management of the different generation sources that allowed us this year, too, as last year, to keep a good balance with a management of risk that turned out to be quite reduced. This allowed us to reach the highest possible margins in the first half. Let us look at the market. The market has completely recovered the results of 2022, thanks to different phenomena.
The first among all of them is recovery of margin and two-year cons contracts, which suffered last year due to the scenario. They give a recovery contribution of about EUR 50 million, and then an additional contribution from the lots won in auctions, both in safeguard, in the safeguarded market and in more p rotection sector. Which allowed us also to invest a part of the margins on some customers that still had fixed price contracts, and we could not shift them to variable price contracts as a result of the resolution of the Antitrust Authority. They ended up fixed price, with fixed price contracts, with stable prices, but outside the market, since abruptly and suddenly, the energy market returned to normal.
The market is now expressing 3.5 million customers in terms of customer base. And a margin now, let's see, of EUR 122 million-EUR 123 million. Waste, as I anticipate it, it's slightly under decrease compared to the previous year, with two positive elements. One on collection, where we have higher revenues, but also we have better cost efficiency, cost effectiveness. - EUR 6 million on treatment due to the standstill of a couple of plants, and the postponement of a couple of months of plants that were supposed to be commissioned this year, in the first part of this year, but then it has been postponed, which values will be fully recovered in the second half of the year. Smart infrastructures, slide nine.
Here we can see that margins on electric grids and on gas are providing good contribution due to the review of the revenues element, + EUR 7 million for the two main grids of our management. EUR 5 million coming from the water cycle, a slight decrease is on heat management due to the thermal condition of the last part of the period, basically the end of winter. The electric part, rob electricity is increasing, + 50% compared to last year, EUR 953 million of electricity, EUR 1,578 million for gas, which grows again by 6%. Slide 10 shows some P&L figures after commenting EBITDA in detail, EUR 188. We have EUR 380 million in D&A.
The increase of which, compared to last year, is the result of the increased investment or increased CapEx during the period, during the six-month period. We have risk provisions, because last year we had a, the, a release in this part due to the increase in interest rate, especially with regard to post-management of dumps. This is a mid long-term debt, which must be actualized due to accounting principles. Probably the rate has a positive effect last year, which was not repeated this year. Bad debt provision is good, which is not affected by the fate of the customer base belonging to the safeguarded sector, where we see the face a bit more in the second half of the year. Financial charges, EUR 69 million, compared to last year, due to the effects of the increase in interest rates.
Today, the cost of debt is 2.4% versus 1.6% last year. EUR 379 million is EBIT, EBT, EUR 440 million paid in taxes, so EUR 256 million deducting the minorities. That's the net ordinary results. We have EUR 23 million of one-off special items concerning the fiscal effects, the positive fiscal effects, deriving from payment of withholding or replacement taxes on the disposal of some assets. EUR 280 million in terms of EBT. CapEx is reflected on page 11. I give the floor to Renato.
Yes, let me just underline that once more, for the third consecutive year, we have had a first year of growing compared to previous year. Growth has been by 7%, let me just underline that the most important part are on the left, EUR 281 million development. It's also important to look at the quality of the development, to the Matarocco wind park in Sicily, in the province of Marsala, where we have installed a 30 MW, eight wind blades, with high performance to strengthen the greenfield capacity of our wind power plants. We would also like to highlight that we continue to have good alignment to the European taxonomy and to the SDG targets.
About 70% of the eligible CapEx is aligned with the SDGs, and 75%, 70% of the CapEx is aligned with European taxonomy. Therefore, we continue to invest on the main growth lever. We have slide 12. Very quickly, let me just comment on the net free cash flow. Let me just echo the concept of proactive risk management. Among the risks, we also have the financial risk, which is managed with zero discipline. The figures are self-explanatory, because as you can see here. We are generating, operating a cash flow exceeding EUR 600 million after proactive management of the net working capital, where the Q2 has released cash for about EUR 260 million, after absorption of EUR 380 million in Q1.
In line with the seasonality of our business, and as I said earlier, with our management of the net working capital, EUR 640 million allow us not only to fully fund our CapEx, also part of our dividends. We therefore have 414 PFN, the ratio with the EBITDA is 2.6x , as opposed to 2.8 end of last year. The result of this performance, based on this, we have revised our guidance by EUR 100 million, as you can see on the EBITDA, 1.74-1.78. That's the range, considering some elements, positive elements, on the generation side.
Most of all, the fit prices linked, most of all, on the one hand, to the end of the clawback and to the hedging, which has allowed to have attractive pricing. There is also negative effect arising from coal-fired energy production and CCGT that is decreasing. We have a net ordinary income, which records a very important value, EUR 450 million-EUR 460 million, which is self-explanatory. Now some takeaways, without any further ado, so that there is more time for the Q&A. The takeaway, our guidance are revised upward, thanks to the important, to the significant industrial performance. We continue to invest, to support the growth in Italian infrastructures, and the decarbonization process is involving us as key players, and we keep a keen eye on the net financial position.
We are proud of the fact that we can keep our CapEx level with our financial discipline. Now let's start the Q&A.
Thank you very much, indeed. I would like to remind you, if you want to ask a question, that you can do it, selecting star one on the keyboard of your device. First question, Javier Suarez from Mediobanca.
Good afternoon. Thanks for the presentation. The first question is about the guidance. I would like to have more details about the guidance and the net debt to EBITDA at year-end, the guidance about the CapEx. If I remember correctly, the last time was three times, and CapEx was about EUR 1.4 billion. Can you update with a comparison?
The second question relates to the latest details of the saving levels we have for 2023, 2024, for internal generation and for Green Certificates. The third question, can you help me understand the main dynamics that you see in the business of generation for 2024? Because there are new elements, and I would like to have your view of the production with the CCGT plants, which have suffered this year for imports from France. What do you expect for, in 2024? I know it's not easy to make an estimate, but I would like to have your latest estimates and ancillary service markets, so the contribution in 2024, and the price levels so that you expect in 2024, to see how the profitability of EBITDA and power generation is going to evolve from 2023 to 2024.
Last question about net working capital. In first year, half of the net working capital is around EUR 100 million, EUR 180. What's your expectation in terms of net working capital at year-end? Thank you very much, indeed.
Let me just ask the answer to the first and third question. The first question about the guidance. Net debt on EBITDA, our target is to stay below 2.8x. As to CapEx, I can only confirm 1.4. This was actually the value that we had already shared with you. Concerning generation dynamics in 2024, the main variable, of course, is hydropower. In 2023, hydropower is suffering because of the little snow in winter 2022-2023, most especially on the Alps. This has been the main factor of contribution.
Now our production levels are by far better in Southern Italy, in the region of Calabria, for instance, than on the Alps. Even if it's raining, we cannot replace the snow that has not fallen last winter. Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that if we have a more normalized rain situation, hydropower production can go back to average historical value, 1 TW h, more than we are assuming for 2023. This is very relevant, of course, because as Luca will explain you more in detail, part of this production is already covered, and we are working at attractive prices. As to the energy import from France, we expect that the import levels we are seeing right now are quite normal, there will be this component also in the future.
CCGT, as is always the case, act as a plug, as a temporary solution. We expect the CCGT in the next few years to be less active, to be working less. This is the reason why we have taken part in the call for bid, the capacity market. We should consider, well, they will do, they will be in function for several hours, but the capacity market will be the key element, and already today, the capacity marketing is contributing significantly to the financial performance of these plants. On the contrary, I don't expect any significant reduction in the MSD margin compared to 2023. It's by far lower than in 2022, because we have the new capacity market plans to be running at full swing in Monfalcone.
They will start operations in 2025, and it's unlikely until then we can have a normalized MSD situation. We are still expecting a quite positive 2024. As to prices, the forecast of the scenario we're looking at is quite stable compared with the setting today. We have got to use the unexpected events, but I cannot see any hints which might alter the price scenario on the supply or on the demand side. The demand is a bit weak, but it cannot significantly affect the price, and also the arrival of the regasification plant at Ravenna in 2024, which will strengthen stability. There is a limited capacity, so considering the market, which is absorbing 60, 65 cu millions, so it will not disrupt the balance between supply and demand. The forecast for 2024 is still very positive.
Luca?
As far as the net working capital performance is concerned, for the second part of the year, we expect some increase in credits concerning the safeguarded area, which we believe we can manage proactively. The expectation is still in line with the guidance for PFN over EBITDA ratio that was given. We believe we will be able to flexibly manage this parameter within these values. As to hedging, as we said before, for 2024, we are already working ahead with fixed price production. Whatever comes from renewable energy production, we've already covered more than 50% of productions, with an average price that's quite interesting, slightly higher than this year's, which on average is about EUR 150 per megawatt. I would say very good, also in this respects.
2024 should be easier in terms of hedging and risk management. We're still open because this market is not as liquid as a fixed price production. On the parts concerning CCGT, where we can work a little bit more, especially towards the second part of the year, year-end. As to the hedging of 2023, you will remember, on the fixed price part, we are hedged up to 70%-72%, with a value in excess of EUR 150, EUR 155, EUR 56. Whereas with CCGT, we are hedged at around 70%, with an average value, which is about, above EUR 25 per megawatt.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next question by Stefano Gamberini from Mediobanca. Equita, sorry.
I have a question concerning 2024. Luca, can you help us understand those EUR 120 million of annual improvement in terms of EBITDA? I think that part of it may come from this hedging of more than 50% of production, so there is no more clawback. I was wondering about margins in CCGT, because this year we have exit margins helping us with lower volumes. What should we expect for next year as delta? The other element I wanted to understand was on market. This year, in the market area, you said there are EUR 50 million as an effect of the existing contracts, which will probably disappear next year. Can we expect a further improvement in the market or not for this year? Also concerning estimates, I have a question on waste, on the waste division.
You said that we were flat in the first half, but you have a guidance of 380, 390 of EBITDA in the first part of the year, a 10% growth. Do you confirm this, thanks to the new plant? Would it be possible to have an additional improvement next year? The other topic is the renewal of concessions. I wanted to understand whether there is some innovation here or some novelty. Can we expect something to happen in the summertime, or is everything going to be postponed? I think it's an important topic, since there is a change also in the management of the arena, I was wondering whether there is, you know, some novelty in this respect, too. Thank you.
Hello, Stefano. I will start from the tail of your questions.
As to the renewal of concessions, I would say we are in line with what we said, a few months ago for the previous quarter end, and during the meetings we had in interim. We are confident that we will find a positive path for the concessions, with a deal leading to the engagement of the necessary investment to guarantee the performance of these plants, which suffer or are affected by some changes, changes, for instance, in the Alps and glaciers lying above. They require hydraulic interventions and works in order to go back to the original power. Also these plants have to be equipped with pumping stations, if possible, to guarantee storage mechanisms that would help with the development of renewable sources. We are working on that.
I don't think we will see anything new this summer, but we expect to have novelties by year end. As to waste, the guidance is certainly dictated by the fact that there are some plants that recorded some delays, which we didn't see that much in the first half, but they are going to reach their full potential this year already. I'm thinking of Verona district heating system or other plants that we commissioned at the end of last year, which they, which have their own learning curve that must be completed. This year, we believe, is the year in which all these investments will come to full capacity. First of all, for the whole year, we are enjoying the effects of the safeguarded, and next year we will have options for the protected area.
We take it for granted that it's going to be a year of major growth. We're working on the 2024 forecast, and we expect an increase. As to the second question, I didn't understand what you were referring to, so I hand over to Luca.
Let me just point out one thing, Stefano. It's not an accounting effect on the market, it's a real effect of margin increase. Last year, we discounted some effects, one of which was the erosion of margins on two-year contracts, which we are recovering this year. It was part of the promise, premises, part of the prices, sale prices, between generation and the market. The margins we are recording on the market are real and true, which bring real revenues, and so EBITDA then transforming into cash.
As to 2024, if I understood your question, you're assuming a growth of about EUR 100 million. Now, we are working on our new budgets and plans. We have some positive elements that allow us to have a positive view for 2024. For instance, and most especially, we should see a revision or a review of the regulation terms in the infrastructure sector, on the regulated gas, electricity, and hydraulic cycle. We should have the positive effects of the trigger of WACC. All analysts are making similar considerations in line with us. 80, 90 basis points have increased last, last year. We will see when the observation window closes, what the final numbers will be.
We will have a positive effect of inflation, a deflating effect, and OpEx also will play a role, which will give a good contribution, coupled with the good effects on the market, and coupled with the positive effect of waste, which continues with investments, continues to generate consistent growth in line with what it has achieved in the last few years. This puts us in a fairly good position.
Well, we support you with a year-on-year growth.
Well, you know, besides, the guidance changes, change during the year.
One last question about district heating. There, we could have a surprise in terms of changes in regulations affecting EBITDA, or do you think that with the new regulations, there are no risk in terms of EBITDA?
Well, we have a positive view. We are happy to see the possibility of regulations here.
Today, district heating is, in some cities, and especially Milan, we see it as the main source of decarbonization of cities, from the viewpoint of heating systems, which is, after mobility, is the number one problem in cities. District heating has a very good effect also in terms of a reduction of CO2. It's more effective than heat pumps. We have to push on this side because Milan has the biggest potential, because today we only have a 20% of district heating. The regulation here, if carried out correctly, and we have no reason to think that it will not be carried out correctly. The latest regulation was on water, and it brought new investments and good remuneration, as far as I know.
This sector, when we talk about this sector with rating agencies, it's enormous regulated sector, we should actually go for fully regulated. We are thinking in terms of RAB-based, it will have an impact on EBITDA. Being a regulated EBITDA, the value will be different, the ratios will be different. We are assisting and contributing... to in-depth studies on regulation. I had a talk yesterday with the president of the regulatory bodies, it was quite good.
Thank you.
Thank you very much indeed. There are no further questions. In the meantime, I would like to remind you that you can still ask questions by pressing the star followed by one. Next question, Davide Candela from Intesa Sanpaolo.
Good afternoon. Thank you very much indeed for your presentation. I have three questions. First question is about the waste business. Can you share your view about prices, treatment prices, and recycled materials? Do you see any resilience also in this context, and what are your expectations in this area? Second question about the debt and refinancing the needs. I would like to know whether you can provide an update on hedging for refinancing this year and next year. As a consequence of that, how do you expect the debt cost to evolve in the short term, also considering the interest rate scenario?
Last question is about the M&A. Have you got any specific targets, considering also the leverage, do you have any targets in mind or any dossier you're working on, possible future acquisitions for your company?
Waste prices, two comments on the two most important items to WTE and plans collecting wet urban waste in WTE. We have recently seen a price increase on the market, EUR 130 per ton is the average price. I cannot see any assumption of price reduction for the simple reason that we are still short. We have less disposal capacity, by far less disposal capacity than the demand in Italy. What is happening is that those who cannot convert waste to plants in Italy are doing so abroad.
If you can see their freight costs on the top of disposal costs, they are by far higher. We tend to have higher prices. As to wet waste, there has been a specific dynamic. Last year, we had a countertrend linked to gas price increase. The plants which were producing biomethane have recorded revenues associated with output, which were on the rise. They have therefore reduced the waste converter prices because they had good economics in that scenario, and they wanted to avoid losing build stock, which could be valuable. With decreasing price, prices, the situation has been rebalanced and we are back to prices of about EUR 65 per ton that we used to have in the past. Also in this case, in the mid-term, I don't expect any price decrease. That, Luca, I hand over to you.
We don't have any specific needs of refinancing until year-end. We are, we have abandoned the cash, abandoned liquidity from EUR 2.4, as we said earlier, I don't see any need to increase. We had EUR 2.6 for 2026. This was the financial projection. EUR 2.4 is fully in line with these values, and we are also using available cash in a very positive manner, and there are some additional opportunities. The pre-funding in 2020 at very good terms and conditions, has supported strengthening, increasing safety. The third question was about possible M&As. I had forgotten that. We are working on greenfield. Since we managed to grow in greenfield, greenfield gives you the opportunity to grow with more interesting ramps. We'll reconsider possible M&As in revising the business plan.
This will probably be done next November. If we realize that some factors could also be renewable energy, cannot have the growth path which is required, and this might also encompass greenfield, but there are still analysis underway. If your question is about targets, there are open negotiations, but co-considering the plants that are needed for district heating, we have one with Edison for a plant, comparable to the colonial one, but this is not going to be a transformative deal. It's important for sure, because it allows us to keep the faster pace we have recorded so far. They add to other operations, but we have no major deals in the short term.
Thank you very much indeed.
Thank you. No more questions.
In the meantime, I'd like to remind you that you can still ask a questions by pressing star, followed by one. Next question, Stefano Gamberini, Equita.
Two quick questions. Talking about waste, can you give us a snapshot of the situation of the authorizations? You have biomethane plants that need to start operating. Are they all on schedule, or could there be delays? If I remember correctly, there was an upgrade of the plant for waste, special waste treatment in Calabria region, which should increase the conferral during 2024 by about EUR 30 million contribution to the EBITDA. Is it confirmed? Always talking about waste, can you spend a couple of words about possible additional growth in this sector? There is very strong demand. You are a bit weak in the field of special waste, where there is probably room for growth.
Next question is about the asset rotation. Can we expect any changes in the field of gas networks? Is your leverage so low, so less than 2.8 compared on the EBITDA? Maybe you are considering, I'm joking, an improvement in your dividend policy.
Waste, first. What you have said makes sense. On the one hand, we have products in the pipeline that are proceeding as per schedule or with minor delays. TecnoA, so 100,000 tons should be the future capacity, and the reason why there has been some delay is that in our business plan for acquiring the plant, we had envisaged to stop the plant at 35,000 tons and to replace it with the new one.
While we have managed to find a technical solution and to get the authorization so as to start building the new plant without stopping the old one. The old one, of course, will be then, will then be converted into a chemical, physical plant, that should have been built elsewhere. It's a constructive delay, which helps us have a higher, a better performing, plant. Next year, we will see the work streams, and we will see completion in the scheduled time. In the meantime, we are receiving permits. We have just received the permit, the authorization for the biomass plant at San Filippo del Mela, in the area where we have our main power plant, and also the activities to convert agri-power plants.
As you will probably remember, they are a major development in the field of bioenergy, starting from bio for, plant in Cremona, and also including other plants in the pipeline, where the timing is confirmed. As to the asset rotation, let me just put it so, as of today, I don't see any minority scenario for gas. We don't need that. Therefore, we stay as we are now, and later on, we might consider future opportunities.
Thank you. Next question by Javier Suarez from Mediobanca.
Hello. I had additional questions to ask. The first one is on the market supply business. After 2022, which was very hard for the sector, now we see a margin expansion. To what extent is this the result of a change in strategy, in the commercial strategy of the company, or maybe is the result of a normalization of prices? How does the company plan to act, if you need to extend the margins and make it more profitable? It's a question about the strategy you followed in the past years and in 2022. The guidance on net income, just for clarity, on slide 13, you said that this excludes non-recurring items, so referred to EUR 23 million of extraordinary items. Can you clarify this? It would be important.
The third question, in for scenario, that you made for 2024. You should have good visibility by now. Can you share some initial guidance for 2024 in terms of EBITDA, net income, or any other indication for 2024? Thank you.
On supply, I guess the most important element is the following: in 2022, a lot of special things happened on the issue of supply. The reputation had to be strongly defended. As you know, it takes years to get a good reputation, but you can lose this in a couple of days. The fact that A2A suffered last year, because we did suffer, but it still preserved all of its customers. You know, that when the antitrust intervened, few companies came out of the investigations brilliantly, but that contributed to awareness, the awareness of a serious company, which allowed us to improve our performance remarkably and in a lasting manner, with large customers, especially. In terms of volumes, we are now the second largest company in the country, the first one being Edison. The margin on that market is quite important.
It's as if you factor in an element of robustness, robustness of the supplier, which is very important in some sectors. Is it a strategy? I don't know. I wouldn't be able to say whether it's a strategy or a new strategy. Probably, it was a question of keeping our position, keeping our point. When the old fixed price contract, became a problem for everyone, the strategic choice was to comply with the contracts. This is, paying back on the market today, together with our innovation capacity.
We are entering with 1,000 contracts per week with Noi2 , 10-year contracts, and nobody would bet that we could subscribe those contracts. With the customer experience, which is quite good, the app that we make available to our customers shows exactly from which plant the production comes, and it shows every month the amount of the kilowatt per hour at fixed price that they have. 119 is the fixed price versus 200, which is the average on the market. This also provides education. There is a share within the fixed price, customers can save, and they can take care of their own energy management. These elements, as was the case with NeN when we launched it, this continues to support the A2A reputation and awareness, and it stands out as an innovative company.
This is paying back a lot. As to net income, the special item that we have considered so far are only the ones that we represented today, EUR 22 million. That we don't see any other special item. As such, however, special items are hard to predict. As to the expectation for 2024, I think it's premature to provide a guidance on 2024. Honestly, it would be quite unusual. We have parameters that we use to, in order to build the plan, and I think you know them. Increasing CAGR, increase in net income. We have reference parameters that we have to comply with, also for financial sustainability and for the rating position, which we already shared in past meetings. We are on the right path, and I believe, as I said before, that we have a rather positive outlook over 2024.
That's interesting. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Next question by Davide Candela, Intesa Sanpaolo.
Thank you again. Sorry for asking again, one last question. It refers to the market liberalization. If I remember correctly, it's about 1 million customers that we are aiming at. I was wondering, what would be the potential cash commitment in the short term to support this expansion of a customer base? I was wondering whether the leverage target that's slightly tighter than before, is this moving in this direction? Am I right or wrong? Would it be good to get some leeway there? Maybe you can push it slightly above the million customers that you targeted initially.
Well, Davide, I confirm that the goal is to play our role in the Gradual Protection and auction markets.
The figures are more or less those that you quoted in terms of impact on net working capital. As all increases in the customer base, it depends on average DSO of the customers, so how the EBITDA and the additional margin will transform into cash, but we did not expect a significant weight on the net working capital. Of course, we will carry out careful in-depth analysis also to see what we want to do also in terms of supply.
Thank you very much .
There are no further questions, so I hand over to Marco Porro for the closing.
Thank you very much for participating in this call. Have a good weekend, and enjoy your holidays if you are about to leave. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.