Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Enel nine months 2021 results. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. I would now like to hand the conference over to Head of Investor Relations, Monica Girardi. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and warm welcome to our nine months of 2021 results presentation, which will be hosted by our CFO, Alberto De Paoli. In the presentation, Alberto will provide some highlights of the period and will walk you through the operational and financial performance for the group. Following the presentation, we will have the usual Q&A session. We ask those connected to the webcast to send questions only via email at investor.relations@enel.com. Before we start, let me remind you that media is listening to both the presentation and the Q&A session. Thank you, and now let me hand over to Alberto.
Thank you, Monica. Good evening, everybody. Let's start with the highlights of the period on page number one. The operating dynamics of the first nine months of the year showed a trend of significant recovery, with industrial bounce now clearly visible. The turnaround across all KPIs has accelerated, starting from the H1 of the year, and the growth curve is now landing at a level which is back to the pre-COVID 2019 period. Investments are up double digits, in line with expectations, demonstrating once again our deployment capabilities that will fuel future growth. Thanks to this ability, we made significant progresses in the renewable installation by building 4 GW of capacity over the last 12 months.
In light of the predictable evolution of the business, we can therefore confirm our targets for the year, including the guaranteed DPS of €0.38 per share for 2021, which implies a 5% dividend yield at current price. On slide two, now we dive into some industrial KPI for the nine months. As you can see, in renewables, the additional built capacity was equal to 2.3 GW, up 35% versus nine months of 2020, and positioning us ideally to close the year with more than 5,000 MW of new builds. On networks, volume distributed continues to grow and stands now at 382 TWh, up 6% versus previous year.
In customers, electricity sold in the free market increased for the third consecutive quarter this year, up by 9% versus previous year, with 139 TWh sold over the period. The industrial performance has been incredibly strong while overshadowed by temporary headwinds and FX impact. Now I'm on page three, where you can see that ordinary EBITDA overall is down 4% year-on-year. It's worth to open the performance in three main blocks of analysis to make a clean comparison vis-à-vis last year. First, the performance has been affected by the normalization of non-recurring items. I want to remind you that last year we booked around EUR 640 million positive non-recurring items, mainly associated with the provision reversal in Spain and Resolution 50 in Italy.
Second, numbers are impacted by EUR 300 million of FX devaluation, mainly due to the weakening of Brazilian reais. Third, we faced some temporary headwinds worth around EUR 600 million in total, of which EUR 300 million from lower prices hedged in 2020, as a consequence of the last year depressed environment and compression in margins due to the recent spike in prices. Another around EUR 300 million from the severe drought in Chile and the gas shortage from Argentina, and then the effect of the Texas ice storm in Texas faced at the beginning of the year. These three headwinds have been counterbalanced by the recovery of the operating performance across all business lines.
In particular, the lion's share of operating growth is associated with Global Power Generation, where among other effects that I will detail later, the development of new capacity contributed remarkably, the progressive stabilization of the level of electricity distributed in LATAM, coupled with the tariff indexation, in particular in Brazil, and better volumes dynamics in the retail business, particularly in Italy. By taking out the temporary headwinds faced in 2021, our EBITDA would have remained flat versus last year, so cover the delta of non-recurring FX impact through the increase in operating results. Let's now see how these moves are reflected in the bottom line. Net income results, I'm now on page four, has been affected not only by the headwinds commented at EBITDA level, but also by other non-recurring items, particularly on taxes and financial expenses, that have further obscured the solid operating growth.
In particular, temporary headwinds from EBITDA had an impact for more than EUR 300 million on earnings. On taxes, we recorded EUR 150 million impact from non-recurring deferred tax in Argentina and Colombia following the recent change in the fiscal law in these two countries. Third, the liability management program put in place to reduce the cost of debt in the next years increased our financial expenses in this year for around EUR 300 million as a one-off. Worth reminding that the liability management program has been executed to partially reabsorb the gain from the Open Fiber deal, which has not already materialized and will materialize in the last quarter, in the full year. Incidentally, the net income trajectory of this quarter is not representative of the full-year prospects.
Excluding the temporary headwinds faced in 2021, our net income would have increased by 13%. Deployment of investments continue to be robust. We are now on page 5. We invested EUR 8 billion in the period, an increase of 21% versus previous year. In the ownership business model, investments were almost entirely allocated to renewables and networks, that total around EUR 3.4 billion each, with the remaining portion deployed on conventional generation and customers. From a geographical perspective, around 70% was spent across Europe and United States, of which EUR 3.9 billion in Europe and the remaining $1.3 billion in North America, and EUR 2.3 billion was spent in Latin America. We have invested around EUR 450 million through the Stewardship business model, focusing primarily on Enel X and renewables capacity.
This EUR 450 million catalyzed EUR 1.7 billion of total investments made by our joint ventures together with the third parties involved. Moving now on our global generation business. For some details on the generation business, you see, and I'm now on page six, that the total renewable capacity stands now at around 51 GW, approaching 60% of our total installed base, up by 3 % points versus previous year. The green repositioning of our generation portfolio is clearly shown by the share of emission free production that is now at 63%. Renewable capacity built over the last nine months is equal to 2.3 GW, despite the difficult condition posed by COVID.
Over the next quarter, we will scale up the magnitude of new renewable capacity addition, and we expect to commission 3,000 MW in the last quarter of the year. As of today, 100% of these projects are in an execution phase, of which more than 700 are already built and ready to start production, offering high visibility on their contribution by year end. Such a remarkable acceleration in future growth prospects are made possible thanks to our pipeline. I'm now on page seven. As you can see, as of today, pipeline has reached around 350 GW, broadening projects optionality and securing both flexibility of capital allocation and protection on returns. Mature pipeline worth around 83 GW, out of which 18 are earmarked for the 2021-2023 period, and 55 are already covering projects for the 2024-2025 period.
Over the last 12 months, our mature pipeline grew by more than 30 GW, and 7 GW entered in the execution phase. The mature and early stage pipeline dynamics position us optimally for our growth prospects, and you will appreciate during our Capital Markets Day presentation in the upcoming weeks. With respect to the 19.5 GW targeted addition for 2021-2023, we stand at over 70% of the target addressed, with around 2.3 GW built year- to- date and around 12 GW currently in execution.
The residual target is covered 3.3 x by the related portion of mature pipeline, which translates in negligible delivery risk and high confidence of achieving even more than this. We can leverage on this extensive and well-diversified pipeline also to further push the implementation of the Stewardship business model in renewables, thanks to our origination capabilities and crystallizing over time the value that sits into this larger portfolio, pipeline portfolio. Moving now to the operating achievement on Global Infrastructure and Networks. I am now on page eight. You see that as of September 2021, volumes of electricity distributed stood at more than 380 TWh, up by 6%, showing a recovery from the dynamics observed in 2020 related to the lockdown.
This acceleration has been observed across all geographies, which now stand at the level of electricity distributed in line with the pre-COVID conditions. Focusing on LatAm, volumes increased 5% year-on-year on average, or 5 TWh , driven by Brazil, which increased by almost 3. Digitalization of network remained at the center of our capital deployment, with the number of total smart meters installed that reached roughly 45 million smart meters, resulting in approximately 60% of our 75 million end users digitalized. Now, let's take a close look on customers on slide number nine. Our positioning on customer strengthened in the last 12 months, both via our retail traditional operation as well as on services and platform offered by NLX.
Around 1.2 million of new customers have been added in the free market, mainly Romania, due to the end of the regulated tariff in Italy, which added 400,000 customers the period. Energy sold in the free market is up by 9%, with volumes increasing in both B2B and B2C segments, driven by the economic recovery. Looking at NLX, the division performed extremely well, with double-digit increase recorded in all product lines. More than 100,000 charging points have been added, reaching 245,000. Lighting points reached 2.8 million, up by 4%. Battery storage increased by almost 60 MW, and 7.7 GW of demand response capacity was offered globally. In fiber, almost 30 million households have been passed, up 34% year-over-year.
The industrial development goes together with the continued improvement in the active portfolio management activities on slide 10. You already know that in April 2021, we completed the merger and the public tender offer in Enel Americas, and now we own 82.3% of the company. That way, Enel Americas has aligned its corporate structure with the other subsidiaries of the group, unlocking synergies and reducing operational financial risk. This will translate into an earnings accretion for the group, which we estimate to the tune of 13% at regime. Furthermore, in July, we reached an agreement in Colombia to create a single corporate vehicle that will support growth in the country.
Finally, in August 2021, we signed an agreement with ERG, E-R-G, to acquire 527 MW of hydro assets for an enterprise value of EUR 1 billion. Following completion of the transaction, the group will reach around 13 GW of hydro capacity in Italy, progressing further in the decarbonization of the generation portfolio. Worth to mention that these assets are expected to generate EUR 100 million EBITDA. We foresee the closing at the beginning of 2022, once all of the regulatory approvals have been obtained. Now let's open the session on financial results, and I'm now on page 12. EBITDA stood at EUR 12.6 billion, decreasing 4% year-over-year, and net income came at EUR 3.3 billion, decreasing by 8% versus previous year.
As already explained, the performance of both has been affected by temporary operating headwinds, FX, and one-off items which overshadowed a strong underlying performance. Similarly to EBITDA and net income, the FFO of the nine months has been suffering from temporary headwinds, but also from EUR 2.1 billion working capital burden coming from the regulatory measures implemented in Italy and Spain to smoothen the impact for customers of the spike in power prices, and from other economic headwinds in Chile and Brazil that I will detail later on. Net of this impact, FFO would have increased by more than 20%. Moving now into deeper analysis, we are on slide number 13 on Global Power Generation.
Global Power Generation ordinary EBITDA stood at around EUR 4.8 billion, down by around EUR 300 million or 6%. Results have been supported by the positive contribution of new renewable capacity installed, coupled with an increase in renewable volumes for around EUR 300 million. Positive contributions has been more than offset by some negative items detailed as follows. Around EUR 290 million due to the persisting drought and gas shortage in Chile. EUR 200 million associated with the price dynamics affected by lower hedging prices, mainly in Italy and Spain, and the normalization of ancillary services, mainly in Italy. Around EUR 150 million from currency devaluation, mainly in LatAm. Worth to highlight that the negative price effect will revert next year.
As of today, we have hedged forward 97% of 2022 production at prices that are higher, on average EUR 6 per MWh, than the ones of 2021. The negative impact from the drought and gas shortage in Chile can be considered a temporary headwind, and now we are experiencing some better conditions in Chile going forward. Considering all of this, and the increased contribution from new renewable capacity installed, we see the growth trajectory of the renewable part of the generation business to come back supporting future targets. Let's now take a look on our infrastructure and network on slide number 14. Ordinary EBITDA for networks stood at EUR 5.4, down 7% versus last year. Net of the non-recurring items accrued in 2020, the performance year-on-year is broadly flat.
Focusing on the activities in Latin America, the performance is up by 3% year-on-year, as a result of almost EUR 60 million associated with the higher electricity distributed across all the Latin American countries, with Brazil contributing for around 45%, and EUR 140 million related to tariff indexation, mainly in Brazil. These positive items were offset by EUR 30 million associated with higher maintenance cost, mainly in Brazil, due to better weather conditions, and EUR 120 million negative impact from currency's devaluation in Latam. In Europe, EBITDA stood at EUR 4.2 billion, decreasing 9% versus last year, or EUR 400 million. This is mainly due to EUR 100 million plus associated with investments.
100 million negative associated with regulatory adjustments in both Italy and Spain, and EUR 450 million negative impact of non-recurring items, that is the provision reversal that we accrued in 2020 together with the Resolution 50 in Italy. On page 15, we move on to retail, where you can see that EBITDA reached EUR 2.4 billion with a full recovery from the extreme conditions experienced in 2020 associated with the COVID-19. The group expanded its free market customers by 1.2 million customers, I said. As said, on the back of the end of the regulated tariff in Romania and a good increase of customers in Italy.
Looking closely at EBITDA, free market EBITDA is up by 10%, driven by better performance in Italy, mainly attributable to a 9% increase in volumes in the free market. In Italy, EBITDA increased 15% year-on-year on around EUR 200 million, driven by a pickup of volumes in both B2C and B2B segment, and a better marginality with unitary margins up 4% versus last year. In Iberia, net of non-recurring items, EBITDA is almost flat versus last year on the back of stable volumes and margins. Romania retail EBITDA increased around 20% due to the end of the said regulated tariff. Regulated market EBITDA is down around EUR 130 million on the back of the decrease of the regulated customer base, both in Italy and Romania.
Open Fiber customers proved flat, while NLX EBITDA increased 3 x versus 2020, reaching more around EUR 200 million, driven by energy efficiency programs and customer needs of energy flexibility services. In the next slide, we will show in detail the earnings evolution during the period. I'm now on page 16. We have already detailed most of the moving parts resulting into the performance of the bottom line. I will therefore just comment what is left in this chart.
D&A that decreased versus last year, as a consequence of currency devaluation and lower bad debt accruals related to COVID-19 and Resolution 50 recorded in 2020, which more than offset the increase in the level of investments deployed during the period. Financial charges are almost flat year-on-year, despite the EUR 400 million negative impact related to the liability management transaction executed in June and July, and which are part of the liability management program completed in October. The debt refinancing strategy carried out during the last 12 months reduced in this year by 10 basis points the cost of debt, leveraging our cheaper sustainable finance instruments and hybrids. The vast majority of the cost reduction will be visible the next year. The contribution from equity investment increased by around EUR 80 million.
Taxes increased by around EUR 170, mainly driven by the already commented adjustment on the deferred tax in Argentina and Colombia, following the recent increase in the nominal tax rate. Minorities decreased by 22%, reflecting the increase in Enel Americas' stake in the higher contribution of Italian companies. Let's now take a look at our sustainable finance strategy and liability management program, as already mentioned. You see in the chart that over the last months, we put in place this big liability management plan with the aim to further accelerate our sustainable finance path while optimizing the financial structure of the group and further re-reducing the cost of gross debt. As a consequence, the share of sustainable finance sources increased to around 50%, allowing us to reach two years in advance the target we had in 2023.
Thanks to these transactions, we refinanced conventional expensive bonds with cheaper sustainable instruments with an average cost of 0.5% and an average maturity of around nine years. This will generate savings on financial expenses of around EUR 100 million per year from 2022, crystallizing the value of the current low rate environment. Finally, we remind you that this refinancing program has affected the financial expenses for around EUR 400 million in the nine months, while the impact for year end, following the completion of the whole program, is expected to be around EUR 500 million. Now moving on to the cash flow on slide number 18.
As you can see from the chart, FFO stood at EUR 5.1 billion, strongly affected by economic headwinds as anticipated, and measures implemented by local governments to smoothen the impact of increasing prices in customer bill. Excluding these effects, FFO would have account for EUR 1.8 billion, increasing around EUR 2 billion versus previous year, with a cash conversion of 64%, compared to 50% in 2020. The dynamics underlying the FFO evolution can be summarized as follow: higher EBITDA after provision, mainly related to lower bad debt accruals year- on- year. Net working capital -3.1, impacted by around 2.1 of temporary items on the back of the measure implemented in Italy, Iberia and Brazil.
Net of these effects, the working capital is in line with the seasonality of our business and includes item to be reabsorbed in the last quarter, considering also the profile of CapEx curve. Higher taxes paid, mainly due to advanced settlement tax payment at the end of the last year, and higher financial charges paid related to the liability management program executed in June and July, and that has been completed in October. Discussion on the reabsorption and the temporary measures are ongoing to mitigate the cash impact. Now take a look at net debt on slide number 19. The net debt of the period lands at EUR 54.4 billion and includes two accounting adjustments that nothing has to do with the operating performance of the company, such as leasing contracts and effects.
Net of them, the net debt would stand at 52.4 on the following operating dynamics, + 5.1 impact on FFO already commented, investment deployed for EUR 8 billion, dividends paid for 4.8, and active portfolio management activities mainly related to Enel America's PTO. In the period, we accounted as equity about 2.2 billion of hybrids. Gross debt stands at 77.7, increasing by 15% versus December 2020 as a consequence of the already mentioned dynamics on net debt. Now some closing remarks, and I'm on page 20. We had a solid and visible recovery on the operating performance that has continued in the third quarter of the year, in line with expectations, and with recovery post COVID-19 fully on track, supporting the delivery of our targets for full year 2021.
The managerial action implemented on the minorities reduction in Latam, coupled with the reorganization in Colombia, as well as the liability management program, refinance debt at lower rates, will unlock value in the near future. The growth trajectory of our investments is confirmed, and it is progressing at full speed, creating a visible path for future growth. Looking at foreseeable evolution of the business, we are happy to confirm our 2021 full year target for both EBITDA and net income, reiterating our commitment in paying a DPS of EUR 0.38 per share. Thank you for your attention, and let's now open the Q&A session. Monica, the floor is yours.
Okay. Thank you, Alberto. We open the Q&A session. I want to thank all of the analysts that sent the question during the live session. I did my best trying to park them all. I will also filter them a little bit to stay sleek on what we can say being three weeks away from our CMD. They will be mainly focusing on the nine months. I will start with a section focusing on Global Power Generation. The first one is the following: Additional build capacity is at 2.3 GW. What is your expectation for year-end?
Well, I said in the presentation, now we are working on around 3,000 of plant. We see 5,000 or more than 5,000 MW as the end of the year.
Okay. The second question is about commodity price spike and capacity under construction. Is there any impact from the commodity price spike, and.
This period. We don't have any impact for this year, and we don't see any meaningful impact also for the next year coming from these effects.
Okay. We talked about the temporary effect on prices. Can you provide an update on your forward sales? Did you change your strategy in reaction to the current environment on prices and the different action undertaken by the go.
We don't change our strategy because also our strategy pointed already in the good direction. It's worth mentioning that the whole structure of the Spanish intervention was based on the assumption that we were making extra profit selling the energy at the new prices, while for years we don't do this, but we hedge our production with our customer base and we fix prices one year in advance, so following and closing our integrated margin. Having said that, strategy is correct.
When it comes to, say, what are prices and our hedging strategies, I would say that though we are in Italy, we have already covered 100% of our production for the next year, and we are already at 40% for 2023, and we are working at prices that are in the range of EUR 10-EUR 5 higher than the prices that we hedged for 2020. In Spain, we are now working 90% 2022 and 30% 2023. Prices are higher than the hedged prices of around EUR 5.
Okay. Conventional generation capacity remained flat versus the six months. What are the projection for the year? Is the coal phase out plan confirmed?
Well, in Italy, we have received authorization for the shutdown on Fusina 1 and 2, so we will proceed with the closure activities in the next quarter. In Spain, we have received the authorization for the closure of Litoral, and we are expecting some administrative confirmation for As Pontes. They are the two plants totaling 2.5 GW of capacity to be shut down. Now we work to do it and to close these two plants in the fourth quarter. Worth mentioning that we have to comply with the system needs that are requiring some degrees of security in light of the stoppages of the nuclear plants that are planned in November, as well as potential disruption because of the present situation. We are working for the fourth quarter, so we hope that the system will give us the final green light to fully close these two plants.
Okay. I'm allowing a small slippage into 2022 and 2023 here, as I don't think we are leaking or giving any anticipation. The question is, can you provide more color on the 5.5 GW needed to fulfill the plan target of 19.5 GW? Where do you expect to deploy the capacity, and how much of the 2022, 2023 are yet to be secured?
Well said. We said, first of all that we have this 12,000 MW under execution, and then the coverage of more than three times for the residual parts. When it comes to this residual 5.5, let me say that almost, say 70% will be deployed in Europe, and the 30% outside Europe. 2022 is fully secured because we have already 96% of the project of 2022 under execution. We are working on 2023 with 45% of plants under execution. All these items together are giving us a very easy situation to complete and also to increase the rate of development in the next years.
Okay. There's a question about the ERG, well, a composite question around the ERG deal, to be fair. The analyst is asking, what's the expiry date for the concession and when is the termination of green certificates? What is expected to be the normalized contribution at EBITDA level? And can we assume the EBITDA to be an upside versus the current plan?
The expiry date of concession is set at 2029, together with all the rest of our hydro portfolio. Green certificates are set to expire in 2025. We expect a normalized contribution of EBITDA around EUR 100-EUR 110, with the possibility to have higher. In this period, with prices higher than the normal level, we may also seek better results in EBITDA terms. This is an upside, for sure, versus the current plan because it was not foreseen before.
Okay. Lots of questions around the current situation in Latin America, particularly looking at the draw in Chile and in Brazil. Many analysts are asking if you can share with them an update on the situation.
Okay. The drought has different effects in the two countries affected, Chile and Brazil. Chile is suffering with the economic and financial impact, while Brazil is only suffering in terms of financial impacts. When it comes to Chile, the situation end of October proved to be far worse than the condition experienced 20 years ago in the previous severe drought in Chile. In this quarter, in the third quarter, the situation worsened a lot versus what we had in June. Now, after September, we are seeing some signs of recovery that will trigger. I don't say a full normalization because this year is impossible, but a quarter-by-quarter normalization into this severe situation.
We are working with less, so with 3 TWh less, on average. There is a range of 25%-30% of lower production. In Chile, together with this drought effects, remember that the second black swan was that gas normally coming from Argentina was not available in the period of the peaking of the drought effects. Throwing prices at incredible price, impeding ourselves to produce with our thermal plant, and so forcing to buy in the market at this price in order to serve PPA at a very, very low price. This is the overall impact that is worth around EUR 300 million.
In Brazil, it's different, because in Brazil is also under a severe drought, and spot price went up almost 5 times versus previous year. Here, the distributors has to cover this extra cost, and they will be refunded in the year after the situation. That's why we have this roughly EUR 500 million of temporary impact in the cash flow. Now, Enel and the Energy Ministry are taking into consideration to have an extraordinary intervention and to giving some financial support to the distributors within this year, like what they did last year for the Conto Covid. The extra aid for the COVID situation now are discussing on a second intervention to support distributors in this incredible increase in prices and in financial impact.
Okay. The last one on lower power generation is on the pipeline. The pipeline grew again quite significantly quarter-over-quarter. Can you explain the dynamics underneath?
We saw a big increase all along this year on the pipeline. On the early stage, the pipeline is up because we have closed new agreements with co-developers. There are such actors with whom we do the most of the increase in the early stage pipeline. We had particularly this increase in Iberia and Europe of roughly 12 GW. We have also a big increase in new solar project in India that we will deploy that we will trigger the new tenders, and we will participate in the future. When it comes to mature pipeline, now we have 12 GW of new projects that entered in the quarter, and these are more spread around, so all the countries in which we work.
We have roughly 5 GW in South America, 3 GW in Iberia, 2 GW in the United States, and also 2 GW in Italy that now is starting increasing the level of mature pipeline ready to be built.
Okay. We move to customers, Alberto. Usual question on Italian retail, do you have any evidence of customers moving out of the regulated tariff due to the current price environment?
Well, we have not already. We don't see already this movement. We have a constant rate of migration from the regulated market to the liberalized. As for now, it is in line with what we experienced in the past. We can't clearly now exclude that an acceleration will happen in the fourth quarter of this year, and also we think in the first quarter of the next year. It's clear that now, for the first time, we have regulated tariffs higher than the liberalized, the free tariffs both in Italy and Spain, and it may be such a valid reason to move to have and to experience the first enforced move from the regulated to the liberalized markets.
Okay, last one on customers. Customers in the free market have increased by 1.2 million versus previous year. Can you elaborate on the dynamics of the margins? Have you seen any change in your churn rate?
Well, on margins, I would say that we saw a sort of stability of margins this year, we don't see any change in margins. Increase in the overall unitary margins. The increase of the overall margins are mainly related to the increase in volumes in this period. Customers have increased in Italy and Romania. Volumes have increased in almost all the countries. Margins are stable. These are the main reason of the margin increase. Churn rate is stable in Spain. We recorded on a year-on-year basis a slight increase in Italy, not so huge. We are talking about roughly 1.3% point in increase. Today in Italy, the churn rate is by far the lowest in Europe and the lowest also among the market's average in Europe.
Okay, we move into quite a long section around financials. Lots of questions around financials. What is the level of CapEx you expect for the full year? How much of the 2021 CapEx has been saved, thanks to the devaluation of LatAm currencies? Has it already been deployed elsewhere?
We expect to close around EUR 12.5 billion, and that is so a little bit higher than what we targeted for this year. That was around 12. The devaluation generated a savings, a nominal savings, of around EUR 700 million, that has been reinvested in the growth of our renewable asset base, mainly in North America. We increased for EUR 400 million the target we had, and we reinvested the whole effect coming from the FX impact.
Okay, there is a question which goes into the differences between nine months, 2020 and 2021. Can you elaborate on the delta non-recurring, both on the EBITDA and net income? Which were the components last year and this year?
Okay. As I said in the presentation, I summarize once again. At EBITDA level, last year, we booked around EUR 640 million positive associated with the provision reversals in Spain related to the energy consumption for EUR 356 million, and for EUR 273 million, Resolution 50 in Italy. This is for 2020. In 2021, we booked around EUR 200 million from the positive court rulings associated with the CO2 regularization. That worth roughly EUR 188 million, and the hydro cannon in Spain for roughly EUR 40 million. At net income level, the items remain the same, but we have to add at the net income level the financial impact that is clearly diluted.
At net income level, as said in the presentation, we had other two impacts related to the liability program on one side, and the one-off impact on the fair tax related to the fact that we had an increase in the corporate income tax in Argentina and in Colombia.
Okay, EBITDA performance versus previous year flattened compared with the six months, 2021. Can you elaborate on this trend? No, sorry. That's an old. Sorry. It's already answered because you answered with all the non-recurring. I think we can jump, I can jump this one. Sorry, my mistake. I was doubling the question. Next one. What is your expectation on EBITDA for the full year? Can you still confirm guidance and walk us through the moving parts as we get you there?
We confirm our target. This is a confirmation on the back of the continued operating deployment of the group, coupled with the contribution of the stewardship business model that is expected for the fourth quarter. We continue to see an ordinary EBITDA ranging between EUR 18.7 and EUR 19.3, and the net income between EUR 5.4 and EUR 5.6.
Okay. There is another question that is about the underlying components of the net income. We might just go back again to the same topic, but I'm reading that net income is down double digits versus previous year. Can you elaborate on the underlying components that drive the net income to be more negative than EBITDA on a year-on-year comparison?
Well, I think I have already answered because we have out of the fact that we have the translation of EBITDA into net income, and we have said that what we call the headwinds at the EBITDA level translates into a EUR 240 million of impact, negative impact on net income. We have the other two effects I said. The first is the deferred tax asset for EUR 150 million and the impact of the liability program that is around EUR 300 million of impact.
Okay. Now there is a question around the royal decree in Spain for 2021 and 2022. What is the updated expectation on the impact of the royal decree for this year and next year?
Well, we think it's good news. The softening of the gas levy is good news. We think that it's the right way to proceed, recognize that the way in which we act in producing and selling energy in the countries in which we work, and not only in Spain, but in all the countries in which we are are the right way to properly manage our position and our business in this country. This has been recognized by the authorities. Now the amendments of the law. This preserves us from being impacted by the so-called gas clawback. The other decree is now under the approval that is the CO2 clawback. Here it's unclear. The final outcome is clear that it will not be active in the behavior that I said.
Also for the CO2 clawback, the behavior to have direct contracts fixed will preserve the mechanism to act. We are waiting to have the all clarity and visibilities to all the items of this law. On the other side, you know, the decree asks for a better communication and a detailed communication on the contracts that we sign, and then we are actively working with the authorities to provide them with all the needed information to have a clear view on the way we act and exactly the fact that we are not under the law in discussion.
Here we go with another recurring one. Closing of Open Fiber deal. Is there any update on timing? What is missed there?
Well, we do confirm that we expect the closing deal in the fourth quarter this year. We have already obtained almost the most of the authorization, the golden power, and we know that European antitrust is in the final end to define the final judgment. We wait, and we think that mid of this month we may have also the final decision of the European antitrust. That is the last step before the closing of the transaction.
Okay. Net debt is up by more than EUR 3 billion versus the semester. Was this level expected? What is the projected level of net debt for the full year?
Well, this year the main items that have affected the debt is what we call all the measures adopted by different governments to soften the price spike. It is the sum of what happened in Spain, in Italy, and also in Brazil, and this explains most of the variation. What I say is that the final level we think that we may stay in the range of the value that we have today, have a little increase related to this, the increase in investments, but not meaningful differences. On the other side, it may depends on what governments will decide in the last quarter to prolong or not or to make some intervention to soften the financial situation of utilities related to this business.
If not, we think that we will stay in the level we have with some little increase. Otherwise, in other terms, we may have some significant difference following what the different governments will decide.
Okay. I think you partially answered, Alberto, but just to make sure that the message is clear, I'm reading also kind of an associated question. Regulatory measures in Italy and in Spain have impacted the cash flow. Can you provide more color on this? How do you see the working capital moving in the last quarter?
Well, yes, I think I have already answered. The overall impact of FFO related to these measures in Italy and Spain is around EUR 2.5 billion this quarter. Because Brazil is almost EUR 500 million, and it completes the EUR 3 billion impact we have. It depends on the last quarter. This effect will be reverted at the time in which the government will decide that the support to calm and to reduce the bills will not anymore need because we will experience a decrease in the power prices. That time we will get back on the normal level, increasing our FFO of around EUR 3 billion. If it will happen this year or the next, I don't know. Looking at the situation, it's more possible that it is gonna happen next year versus this one. We will see in the next quarter what is gonna happen.
Okay. There was a question coming in on the current cost of debt, which I think we are answered in during the presentation. Next one is on the liability management. Do you think there will be more liability management for the year? If yes, to what extent? What is the upside versus the plan of liability management done so far?
The liability management we have completed the program for 2021 with the last tranche that we did in October. It is completed. We expect to have roughly EUR 100 million of lower financial cost starting from 2022 onwards related to this program.
Okay. Last one on debt. The effects on net debt is negative despite the general depreciation of currencies against Euro. Can you explain why?
Well, the vast majority of this accounting impact, because I remember that those are accounting impacts related to mainly what is the level of the dollar against euro. We had a change from 1.23 to 1.16. This is the main effects that so affect the variation of the level of accounted debt.
Okay. I'm now moving to a set of questions that came through a little bit last minute and that I couldn't pack better. Apologies if I have some duplication here. The first one is about Spain. An analyst asking what are our expectations for full year 2021 EBITDA, given the recent developments on clawback. There's a comment that fixed price contracts would be exempted from the application of the CO2 clawback. Which is your view on the possibility that the current proposal made by the Spanish government could be amended?
Well, I think I have already commented. Also Luca Passa, yes, as anticipated yesterday. We can confirm the targets that we have on Spain for 2021. I said, for the CO2 clawback, further changes are expected. I said, we can assume a similar treatment of this levy on the CO2. Also there, also for the CO2 clawback, exemption will come if you have fixed price contracts with customers. What we are waiting for is this introduction of this full price floor. That is, I think, the main point that we need to have clarification. Now that the bill is in the parliament, I think that in the next weeks we will see the final outcome of this levy. The fixed price contracts of our portfolio protect us. We have to see what this law does mean in the final numbers.
Okay, the second one I have in the list has been answered, so I move to the third one, which says, update on your expectations in terms of timing and impact from the new work regulation in Italy. Did you have any recent contacts with ARERA that you could share with us?
Well, in the last meetings we had with ARERA, the second consultation document was announced for the beginning of November, in these days. We are expecting this to be published, and we don't have at the moment further information on the new proposal, so we are expecting for this the second document. This proposal will allow us to better estimate the final impact on EBITDA. What we can see is that we see an open attitude to discuss by the regulator. We think that we will have better view or at the, for the time of the Capital Markets Day, where we can so easily give you an update on the second document and together with the latitude that the regulator will show.
Okay. The question number four that I have in my list is about. It is a little bit of a general question. An analyst is asking: What's the possible impact for Enel's business outlook in the medium long term from the discussion at the G20 summit and the Glasgow conference? Do you see a stronger commitment by governments where Enel operates to energy transition and developments of renewable capacity?
Well, in general, my answer is yes. In almost all the countries in which we work, we have a high level of commitment towards a full decarbonization, and so the net zero targets. Now we see the COP26 is in progress. We will see what the final outcomes will be. Clearly, the business, the way we have as a business to support the energy transition, that is electrification of consumption and decarbonization of production, is the mantra of our business model. I think that it's not avoidable. It's the only way to reach the decarbonization needed.
Clearly now we will have to see together with the NextGenerationEU. We are working on how the single governments that are taking some commitment in COP26 will translate in the next months this commitment in specific intervention in the specific countries that will allow us to work to enlarge the business that we are managing, electric buses, electric vehicles, electrification, renewable development and everything.
Okay. The next one is on the outlook for America's EBITDA in Q4. I would avoid to answer on 2022, honestly. The positive trend reported in Q2 and Q3 is expected to continue.
Well, we see a strong trend coming back in Latin America. That is driven by the full exit from COVID-19, that is not already here, but the signs are clear. We see this trend for the entire 2021 and also for the whole 2022, is pushed by all the business we are working there. It's pushed because the energy demand is growing faster. It's pushed through the investments we made in renewable development. With exception of Argentina, a good regulatory framework with the regulators that take care very well of development and also some headwinds like what we are suffering in Brazil. The whole things are good for a steady growth trajectory for Enel Americas.
Okay. We go back to a really high level question. Could you please share with us your view on the current situation of high gas and power prices at European level? Do you expect the current imbalance between gas supply and demand to be structural? The measures indicated by the European Union could determine a normalization of the current market condition, possible timing for the normalization, threats and opportunities for Enel. It's quite a big one.
If we expect the current imbalance to be structural, we think that we are entering winter with a situation that has to be taken care because it's the period in which we may have some problem. After winter, we think that we will see normalization of the situation because the imbalance between demand and offering will soften after winter. In fact, we have already seen in the last days how the coal prices have decreased, especially for the decision taken in China regarding supply.
Also gas price have been now reducing the level of price, not because an increase in the gas offering, but because an increase in the wind production. We think that these are the first signs of normalization. When it comes to the measure indicated by the European Union, they are short-term measures, and we think are the best way to intervene with a spike in prices that is a spike related to certain condition that will be solved in the future. That is exactly the way all the governments are intervening. Now also the Spanish government is using the toolbox to work against these huge spikes.
When it comes to Enel, I would say no threats nor opportunities, because having a different strategy, we don't benefit from these spikes because we don't pass the spikes on to customers. While on the other side, we are not suffering any kind of risk. The only risk that we have suffered this year, because the spike in prices was huge, is that we don't hedge 100% of our retail position because it's impossible to hedge 100%. We stay a little bit lower than this every month. This year, because also notwithstanding the very, very low level of not covered energy sold, we had to buy it in the market at these incredible high prices, and this has reduced a little bit our margins because the price spikes. This is the only effect that we had.
Okay. There's a question around the guidance for full year. What are the new EBITDA net income guidance? Well, the new EBITDA net income guidance, actually, we confirmed what we gave, but analyst wants to know which are the one-off items, the non-recurring items that this guidance will include.
The recurring items of today that we don't see any other kind of additional recurring items on top of what we had in the first nine months. We had EUR 200 million and in our visibility, we don't have any others for the four quarters to come.
Okay. The number seven in my list is a question that takes you a little bit back to the unusual non-recurring items, but probably the market wants to have the list really clear, and it worth probably to repeat. Can we have a detailed list of items that are unusual non-recurring in EBITDA and below? Yesterday, Endesa booked EUR 297 million from derivatives. I assume it is there as well.
I'm gonna repeat what are the one-off items.
Yeah, I think there are two basically pieces here. From one side, the analyst wants to know what are the non-recurring or temporary items that we highlight in the slide we had in our presentation, and what is the EUR 300 million booked by Endesa. Two pieces.
I'm gonna repeat what I said. For us in Enel, we had the non-recurring items are so related to the CO2 regularization and the hydro canon in EBITDA. This was, we said. In 2020, as said, we have the provision reversal in Spain and the Resolution 50 in Italy. They are the two that are of 2020. This is what I said before, only to repeat what are the two main items. When it comes to Spain, because I got some not clear understanding, these EUR 300 million are not one-off.
These EUR 300 million are part of a hedging strategy that Spain decided to have this year. There is a hedging strategy that shows this positive on one side and negative on the other side. The overall strategy of the short position and the hedging on gas and derivatives has to be seen as the same strategy. The same strategy together is giving Spain an overall margin of roughly EUR 50 million in the overall hedging activities between short position and derivatives. Looking at different level, one-off, another not, is not correct. The overall strategy is the same strategy we do every year, that we cover 100% of our position. In this case, we had covered with a different hedging strategy.
If you combine the two things together, it gives a final outcome that is neutral. In this case, because the hedging strategy has been a little bit more positive, it's giving an overall result that is not zero, like a normal hedging strategy, but roughly +50. No one-off related to these EUR 300 million. It's normal hedging strategy that we do every year, but this year, we decided to do differently, and so it may seem they are different things, but they are the same that we do every year.
Okay. I think we had a couple of questions, two, three questions that have been already answered, and they are just repacking of themes that we have already dig into. I'm landing to the last one, which is in my list number 10. What is the so-called costs for energy transition and digitalization, which are defining the difference between the ordinary and the reported EBITDA, for a total amount of EUR 1.3 billion? Can you comment?
Last year and this year, we have decided to create a fund that is called an internal Just Transition Fund, that is related with funding activities related to the decarbonization and digitization of the company. Through this fund, we will use this fund to have and to create a just transition for all, also for the people that will be impacted by the closure of our coal plants or our thermal plants. Like all the people that will be impacted by the fact that the company is digitizing a lot of processes, making some redundancies. Because we decided not to have any immediate social impact, these funds will fund the transition along these two axes.
Okay. Alberto, I think that this was the last question of a really deep Q&A part of this call. Thank you for being with us tonight. Thanks to all of the analysts that listen in to this call. We will answer the question that have been answered by all of the analysts directly. Of course, we are here to help you, so if you need any clarification, don't hesitate to ring my phone or all the teams. Thank you.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
That concludes the conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.