Afternoon. It's 2:31 P.M. pursuant to Article 11.2 of the Articles of Association, in my capacity of the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, I take the chair of today's ordinary shareholders' meeting and declare the proceedings open. With your consent, I call upon Notary Public, Carlo Marchetti, to act as a secretary. Are you all in favor? Thank you. I'm asking now the Notary Public to provide, with the consent of those present, the information which is necessary to declare today's ordinary meeting constituted.
Thank you, Mr. Chairperson. First of all, the voting methods. At today's meeting, an electronic voting system was adopted using the so-called Radiovoter aimed at reducing the duration of voting operations.
We would like to provide you with the necessary information for the correct use of the Radio Voter handed out upon registration. You see in the slide how the voting process will be carried out in favor, against, abstention, and then the button OK. Accreditation to the shareholders' meeting takes place through the use of an electronic device consisting of a remote control called a Radio Voter, to which the identification data of the person entitled to attend the meeting is associated, as well as the number of voting rights he or she holds or represents by proxy. The Radio Voter is absolutely and strictly personal. It must not be given to others, left unattended or otherwise. Its custody is the personal responsibility of each proxy holder.
Any loss must be promptly reported to the personnel at the stations in the accreditations areas. The Radiovoter has three functions. Identifying the participation of the person entitled to intervene in the meeting, recording both the number of votes of the person entitled to intervene, and the number of votes attributed to him or her by each delegating person, as well as the legitimacy to book interventions and the entitlement to vote in the manner referred afterwards. Entry, exit, and re-entry into the room where the meeting is held shall be made after passing through the stations located at the entrance to the meeting room, where the entry into the meeting premises shall be recorded, as well as the termination of participation in the event of exit, even temporary, and the resumption of participation in the event of re-entry.
Please note that you will be asked to cast your vote using the appropriate Radiovoter device given to you upon registration. When asked to proceed to the vote, you must express your vote by pressing only one of the buttons. Green for in favor, red against, yellow abstention, and immediately afterwards, OK. As long as the OK button is not pressed, the voting intention may be changed by the person. The vote, thus cast, will remain on the display until the end of each individual voting procedure after the vote has been cast. Please press the OK key. As long as this button is not pressed, the voting intention can be changed by you. The vote, thus cast, will be then recorded. Those who don't cast a vote will be considered as non-voting.
Votes may be cast within one minute from the beginning of each vote. After that time, the vote will be declared closed. I'd like to remind you that the representatives of several shareholders or trust companies wishing to vote differently within the proxies received must necessarily go to the assisted voting station. I also would like to inform you that in compliance with the provisions in force, a notice of call of the shareholders' meeting was published entirely on the company's website on March the 21st of 2023, as well as again on March the 21 st in extracts in the daily newspapers, Il Sole 24 Ore and Financial Times, as well as disseminated in the other ways prescribed by the regulations in force.
The agenda, financial statements, annual report, reports of the Directors, the Board of Statutory Auditors and the independent auditors related and consequent resolutions. Two, allocation of the profit for the year and distribution of the dividend. Three, report of the remuneration policy and compensation paid. 3.1, approval of the remuneration policy pursuant to Article 123-ter, paragraph three bis of Legislative Decree 58. 3.2, resolutions on the second section of the report. Number four, Long-Term Incentive Plan 2023/2025 related and consequent resolutions. In addition to the Chairperson, the CEO, Paolo Gallo and Claudio De Marco, Fabiola Mascardi, Gianmarco Montanari, Lorenzo Parola, Manuela Sabbatini, Qinjing Shen, Maria Sferruzza, and Statutory Auditors, Giulia Pusterla, the Chairperson, Paola Maria Maiorana, Standing Auditor are present. Standing Auditor Maurizio Di Marcotullio excused his absence.
The share capital is EUR 1,003,227,568.67. Divided into 810,745,220 shares with no par value. Each share gives the right to one vote at the company's ordinary shareholders meeting. No categories of shares other than ordinary shares. 839 people are present. 669,000 shares equal to 82.52% of the capital.
Pursuant to Article 13 of the Regulation on the Protection and Free Movement of the Personal Data of Natural Persons, EU Regulations, I hereby inform you that the names, surname, place of birth, residence, and professional qualifications of those attending the meeting have been and will be processed by Italgas as data controller in the forms and within the limits related to the obligations, tasks, and purposes provided for by the applicable legislation as specified in the information notice provided to those attending. The list with the names of the persons entitled to participate in person or by proxy with the number of shares held by each and of...
if applicable, of the delegating shareholder is at your disposal and completed with the names of those who intervene subsequently or leave before each vote with an indication of the number of shares will be attached to the minutes. After each vote, the number of those voting in person or by proxy will be announced, and the result will be announced. As recommended by CONSOB, financial analysts, journalists, and qualified experts are able to follow the proceedings of this meeting. Deloitte & Touche is also attending this meeting. Paola Rolli. They are the company's auditing firm. Again, they are attending the meeting. Lawyer Germana Mentil, General Counsel, is also attending the meeting.
Pursuant to Article 5.2 of the Italgas Spa Shareholders' Meeting Regulation, there is a chairman's office with Germana Mentil, general counsel, assisted by Valentina Piacentini, secretary, they are present in Turin, Largo Regio Parco 9. We have an audio video recording system of the speeches for the sole purpose of facilitating the proceedings of the minutes. The recording will be available, deferred by a few minutes, with your consent, on the company's website, as per notice distributed. Pursuant to Article 4 of the Regulations for Shareholders' Meetings, no recording devices of any kind, other than those above mentioned, nor photographic or similar equipment may be used on the premises where the meeting is being held. There is also a simultaneous translation service from Italian into English. The headphones are available at the reception desk.
I remind you that pursuant to Article 7 of the Rules of Procedure of the general meeting, requests to speak may be submitted to the chair's office from the moment the meeting is constituted under the discussion, until the discussion of the relevant agenda item has been declared upon. You have five minutes for each item and, well, during the discussion that will take place jointly for all the items on the agenda. Voting will take place separately for the various items on the agenda. This allows all those entitled to speak and express their opinion in a fair time and also keeps the duration of the meeting within appropriate limits out of respect for all those present. There will be just one discussion. I'm against. Okay, thank you. No replies are allowed.
After the closing of the discussion, only brief explanations of vote are allowed, which is indicated by the presidency as two minutes of total time available to the individual person. Well, we may decide about the time if there are any specific requests. I also would like to highlight the following. In case of amendments to the proposals, formulated by the board, or in any case, in case of proposals other than those formulated by the board, the board's proposal will be put to the vote first, and only if such proposal is rejected, further proposals will be put to the vote.
Similarly, in case of presentation of points of order on which there is in any case no debate, if the chairperson decides to put them to the vote, any proposals made by the chairperson shall be put to the vote first, and only if rejected shall the proposals of those present be put to the vote. The proposals of those present shall be put to the vote, starting with the proposals submitted by those representing the last, the largest percentage of capital. I'd like to inform you that in connection with today's meeting, the fulfillments required by civil law and the provisions on regulated markets have been carried out. Ms. Chairperson, I give the floor back to you for your remarks.
Thank you very much. I therefore declare today's shareholders' meeting validly constituted and able to pass resolutions on the items of the agenda.
Please note that the company has not received any request to supplement the agenda and submit new resolution proposals pursuant to law in Article 126-bis of the Consolidated Law on Finance. Based on the circumstances known to the company and the statements of those present and the legitimacy to vote of those present has been verified. In any case, I'd like those present to communicate, pursuant to the provisions of law, regulations in force, and bylaws, the existence of any situations of lack of legitimacy to vote or exclusion from voting, as well as the existence of any shareholders agreements. This in relation with respect to all voting procedures.
Thank you very much, Ms. Chairperson.
According to the shareholders register at the record date and other available information, the shareholders directly or indirectly owning voting shares representing more than 3% of the total issued shares are CDP through CDP Reti, 25.99%, through Snam, 13.47%, totally for a total of 39.47%. Lazard LLC, 10.4%. Romano Minozzi through GranitiFiandre, 0.02%. Through Finanziaria Ceramica Castellarano, 0.22%. Through Iris Ceramica Group, 1.89% own shares at 2.14%. In total, Romano Minozzi owns 4.28%. BlackRock, 3.9%. Crédit Agricole through Amundi, 3.5%. As for the shareholders agreements are relevant pursuant to Article 122 of the Consolidated Law on Finance, we note the following.
The company has a shareholders agreement between CDP Reti and Snam concerning all the shares that each of them would hold in Italgas as a result of as of the effective date of the partial and proportional demerger of Snam in favor of Italgas and the simultaneous listing of Italgas shares. The agreement, which came into force on the 7th of November 2016, regulates the exercise of voting rights attached to the syndicated shares, the establishment of an advisory committee, the obligations and procedures for the submission of a joint list for the appointment of members of the company's board, and certain restrictions on the sale and purchase of Italgas shares. The agreement was renewed on the 7th of November 2019 and 2022 respectively. On the 21st of March 2023, Snam and CDP Reti signed an agreement amending this agreement.
Notice of this agreement was given as required by law, including to CONSOB, pursuant to Article 122, and published on the company's website. As regards the questions asked during the meeting, the following procedures shall apply. Answers will be given after the conclusion of all the speeches on the items of the agenda and, if necessary, after a short break, which is necessary to organically prepare the answers. At the end of the answers, the proposals, as we said, on the agenda items will be put to the vote separately. I'd like to inform you that with respect to the right to ask questions, some questions have been received. The questions and the related answers have been published on the company's website.
As required by law, the company has designated Computershare with Fulvio Favaro, present here today, as the party, the representative to whom those entitled to vote may give a proxy with voting instructions on all or some of the proposals on the agenda, proxies that were actually granted to the representative.
Thank you very much. I declare the proceedings open. Before moving on to the agenda, I'd like to inform you that the reports by the board containing the proposed resolutions have been made available at the company's registered office, on the company's website, www.italgas.it, section Governance, Shareholders' Meeting, Shareholders' Meeting 2023, and at the authorized storage mechanism, eMarket STORAGE, managed by Teleborsa within the terms of law.
You were also handed out, upon entering the meeting room, the printed press booklet containing the aforementioned reports, the 2022 annual report, the report on the 2023 remuneration policy and the 2022 compensation policy, the report on corporate governance and ownership structure 2022, and the information document on the 2023-2025 Long-Term Incentive Plan. With respect to the type of items on the agenda, I propose to deal with items one and two of the agenda jointly. Of course, votes will be held separately on each item of the agenda. There are no objections, I proceed to the discussion of items one and two on the agenda of the shareholders meeting. I ask the Notary, with the consent of those present, to give some information regarding the fulfillment of the tasks of the auditing company.
There will be just one discussion. The board will report on items one and two of the agenda and then the others. You said there are no objections, but I'd like to complain about the fact that there is just one single discussion on the first one items. I hereby inform that the auditing company spent 1,237 hours for a fee of EUR 75,512 for the auditing of the financial statements and for periodic audits, 402 hours for a fee of EUR 18,340 for the consolidated financial statements audit.
Thank you very much, Mr. Notary Public. Let me now read out the letter to the shareholders.
In an energy scenario characterized by a process of profound transformation, gas distributors play a crucial role in achieving the objective of energy security, supply diversification, and decarbonization of consumption. A role that in the aftermath of the outbreak of war on Europe's doorstep has been even more specifically defined by REPowerEU. The European Commission document, in fact, in indicating biomethane and hydrogen as sources destined to contribute to replacement of about 50% of the gas that EU imported from Russia, 155 billion cubic meters in 2021, emphasized the extraordinary role of gas distribution networks as both carriers of these renewable gases and as a stimulus for their production.
This is a logic choice, since we can count on an extremely capillary network that in Europe stretches for about 2 million km and which suitable, suitably transform, is able to favor the progressive replacement of gas and of fossil origin and achievement of the net zero economy. In the scenario, the characteristic of capillarity makes these networks not only a driver for distribution, but also and especially for gas collection. A biomethane plant is much more likely to be located close to a distribution network than a transport network, feed-in is also easier due to lower operating pressures, as Italgas has demonstrated in recent years working with foresights and vision on the digital transformation of assets and processes. The starting assumption is that digitalization must necessarily precede the energy transition.
It is an infrastructural issue, preparing assets to receive and manage multiple commodities at the same time, to recognize in real time the types of gas that are being distributed, and thus the quantity of energy to assess the correct network configuration at a given time, and so on. Not only gas of fossil origins flow through our network, so there is also biomethane produced from the wet fraction of waste and agricultural residues, and in the near future it will also be turn of hydrogen and synthetic methane. Consequently, the infrastructure must be intelligent, alive, flexible and able to react to conditions that are not and will no longer be standard ones, precisely because of the arrival of different gases.
Italgas has been working on this since 2017, accompanying and supporting this transformation with upskilling and reskilling activities to put its people in a position to disciplinate, to manage and anticipate change. A path that already by the end of 2023 will lead us to provide the country with an almost entirely digitalized network ready to welcome renewable gases and thus contribute to the achievement of climate targets. In this context, biomethane is crucial for the logical trans- ecological transition of Italy and Europe. The potential is such that several studies agree that the amount of biomethane that Italy could produce by building new plants and upgrading existing biogas plants, which cannot be fed into the grid due to its composition, is about 8 billion cu m.
8 billion cu m corresponds to more than 10% of the country's current demand, roughly the amount that today brings TAP from Azerbaijan or twice as much as GreenStream from Libya to Italy. At a European level, the calculations are even more significant. The European Commission estimates an annual production potential of between 25% and 30% of the Union's current gas consumption. From 2018 to 2021, installations in Europe almost tripled to 1,023 in 19 countries, and it is not a case that most of them are connected to the distribution networks. In Italy, there are 54 biomethane plants for a capacity of 479 million cu m per year.
Still far from the Italian potential and that of other countries further ahead in the development of the sector, such as France, with 365 plants and 620 million cu m produced, and Germany, 242 and 1.2 billion cu m. The margins for growth are wide, especially in southern Italy, where by virtue of its agricultural vocation, estimates indicate a production capacity of 2, 3 billion cu m to be developed by 2030. Italgas is doing its part with more than EUR 100 million in investments to facilitate the connection of biomethane production plants to the distribution network and to introduce reverse flow technology to the transport network so that quantities not consumed locally can be accepted. However, there is a fact that needs to be stressed.
Today in Italy, most of the connection charges fall on the biomethane producer, while only 20% are borne by the system. In other EU countries, this ratio is often the opposite, and this has been an important factor in their development. On both fronts, in line with the objectives set by REPowerEU, the intervention of the European legislator and the national regulator would be desirable for the definition of a framework of rules to promote their effective development, counting also on the use of PNRR funds, which has a relatively short time horizon. As for green hydrogen, according to our forecast, its era will not begin for five-seven years.
The condition must be created for its cost to be competitive with other resources, and for this to happen, a large surplus of energy from renewable sources and a lower cost of electrolysis than at present are needed. In the meantime, however, many experiments are underway by operators in the sector, and Italgas is also working to be ready. In Sardinia, we are implementing a pilot project based on power to gas, P2G, technology for the production of green hydrogen. The project is in partnership with important research institutions, such as the Polytechnic of Turin and the research center of the Sardinian region, and is in its final stages with regard to the administrative authorization to be obtained. The choice of the island is not random.
In the only region that didn't know the advantages of methane until 2020, Italgas is creating a network of native digital networks, the most avant-garde in the country, that has made it possible to win the natural gas challenge within two years and to attract new operators in the sector, reactivating an important economic sphere and energy system based on state-of-the-art networks and cryogenic deposits of liquefied natural gas, then has made it possible to overcome the lack of pipeline connection, a model that can also, thanks to P2G technology, highlight the contribution of sector coupling to decarbonization and energy diversification and security. This solution can be borrowed in all those areas where traditional supply is complex and non-economic, such as in some areas of Greece, where in 2022 Italgas completed the acquisition of 100% of DEPA Infrastructure and its distribution companies, EDA Thess, EDA Attikis, and DEDA.
A process of sharing technical and technological know-how has already begun with them in support of the common goal to build an infrastructure of excellence that will contribute to achieve the phase out targets from coal and lignite set by the Greek government in line with EU targets. It is precisely the capacity for technological innovation which has made Italgas a global benchmark that has enabled the company's daily operation and process management to be digitally transformed in recent years, starting with its networks control and gas leakage prevention activities. In this area, the definitive adoption of Picarro technology, the most advanced in the world in the field of preventive network monitoring, has brought about a Copernican revolution in the control of fugitive methane emissions to the point of reducing leakages from Italgas networks to less than 0.1%.
Innovation is also at the heart of our presence in the energy efficiency sector, where the group offers advanced solutions and products that ensure systematic energy savings. Those same solutions that are proposed to the market have already been applied in our operations and have enabled us to achieve savings of over 20% in energy consumption, both electricity and gas, over the past year. Together with technological innovation, decarbonization, the circular economy, the sustainability of its supply chain, asset safety, training, diversity, inclusion are also strategic drivers through which Italgas intends to implement the 2022, 2028 sustainable value creation plan approved last 14th December by Italgas, the board of directors, which is part of the trajectory of the EUR 8.6 billion strategic plan.
A plan that has set three direction, planet, people, and partnership, for a sustainable future together to which correspond lines of action with clear commitments, measurable targets, and expected medium and long-term results. Thanks to adjusted revenues of EUR 1,537.3 million, EUR 1,555.9 million in the reported configuration and adjusted net profit attributable to the group of EUR 395.7 million. 2022 also confirmed the group's growth trend, which has been constant and continues since its return to the stock market in 2016. These are results achieved with the contribution of all Italgas people who have combined change, innovation, and improvement, and which allow us to propose the distribution of a dividend of EUR 0.317, an increase of +7.5% compared to 2022 to the satisfaction of our shareholders. Pioneers by passion and builders by vocation, we offer all our energy to accelerate the ecological transition.
We do it for us. We do it for everyone. I invite the CEO to illustrate the 2022 consolidated results by means of illustration and commentary on the slides that will be at your disposal.
Good morning, everyone. Many of the things that we will see now have been already, well, showed by the chairperson, so I will try to stop over specific aspects. First of all, we are now on the first slide. I'd like to show you the main results of 2023. Starting from 1st January 2017, we register growth each quarter, so 24 quarters of consecutive growth. This is a huge result.
Over the last years, we have seen many difficulties, for instance, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. In 2022, we have seen important topics, and I'd like to remind them, as the chairperson said, the 1st of September, 2022, we close Greece. In 2022, we have seen an expansion of the activity of our company. We have seen the EBITDA, which tripled compared to the previous years. We consolidated our assets in Sardinia, and we hope we will conclude the agreement with the Veolia for the acquisition of water distribution network in three Italian regions. This was a target we defined in the previous strategic plans, and we didn't manage to achieve this goal because we had troubles with the concessions.
This is important for us in a very important moment of Italy. We are in spring, and we will have scarcity in water resources. We have tried to develop these agreements, and we hope we will be able to improve in a significant way also the networks that we will manage after the agreement, the definitive agreement with Veolia. If we look at the company structure as at 31st of December 2022, you see what we've done during these seven years, starting from November 2016, when the group divided from Snam and came back to the stock exchange. Here you see the figures. You see, we overcome 81,000 kilometers of networks.
We have more or less 8 million customers in Italy and Greece. We are active on more than 2,000 municipalities. If you remember the where we were in 2016, you can understand that there has been a huge expansion, and we will see also in terms of results, what we obtained. Over the years, the share grew a lot in the past, and we achieved more or less plus 100% compared to the initial value. We are aligned more or less, exception for some data to FTSE MIB, and we are at a good level in performance. We have done a great job over the last years.
Before seeing the figures, I'd like just to stop a bit on the scenario we have in front of us now. The scenario has changed above all after the war that is currently ongoing in Ukraine. The energy transition was the only objective of the European Union in the past, but I believe that this is true now, but I don't think now this is the only objective. The security of supplies that was obvious in the past, today is not so obvious. Now we have to take into account the importance of security. The other point is that beyond what happened, we understood we could have a very difficult winter. We faced a huge increase in prices last year. This is a trilemma.
This means that energy has to be present, but we need to have it at competitive prices. These are the two main points we noticed in the past. When we speak about energy transition, we have to consider security of distribution, cost of energy that has to be competitive for our industry. If we see the evolution in 2022, it's a very important and significant evolution because the weight of Russia, the weight of supply from Russia has had huge effects. We are at +5% of supply from Russia. The average of the year was 16% in Europe and 18 in Italy, and we have also Greece indicated since we are present there too.
It's important to notice that the supply has evolved over the years, so the peak, we can say that we have become a single-digit importing countries from Russia in terms of gas. Just a minute. I wait for the slide. Okay. The topic of the war has pushed the European Commission to re-elaborate the Fit for 55 in a vision of diversification of supplies. The document that has been drawn in spring 2022 has been published, is REPowerEU, and its objective is to make Europe independent from Russian gas supply. We have seen the weight of Russian gas. 155 cu m of gas imported from Russia mean a lot. The European Commission has identified a series of intervention. There's not only one solution.
The objective is to replace these importing activities. Here we highlighted the most important ones for our company concerning the product, the production of biomethane. As the chairperson mentioned before, she said that 25% will be replaced by local production of biomethane, and then we will see the positive aspects of production of biomethane with importing and local production of hydrogen and with upgrading and an improvement in the use of our facilities. Biomethane and hydrogen are important for our activity in the framework of energy efficiency. Focusing on biomethane, we see that biomethane is growing more in other European countries than in Italy, actually.
Hopefully, the EUR 2 billion funds within the framework of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan for biomethane will act as a stimulus for further developing this natural resource, which is a circular and renewable source of energy. We in Italy have a huge potential in this respect, which is still untapped. Just think about the fact that more than 2 billion cu m of gas are produced. Out of this 2.1 billion cu m could be actually used if all our plans were upgraded. So we would have 2 billion cu m of biomethane immediately available. Well, biomethane solves an important problem, which is that of waste treatment, both agricultural and city waste.
One of the by-products are fertilizers. If you remember when the war broke out, fertilizers were lacking. Well, if CO2 is sequestrated, it can be used in the agri-food sector. We have a huge resource potential that would solve many problems and would allow us to start a strong and healthy circular economy. Just a couple of facts and figures concerning biogas and biomethane. You see that we have the potential, and according to our estimates from now to 2030, as you heard in our report, we could exceed with that production 10% of our consumption. Well, if we have 8-10 billion cu m, and this would be a regasifier, we would have millions of plants.
The main topics that we have to deal with are, first of all, the authorization issue, and we know that this applies to all sources of energy, especially the renewable ones.
There are other issues that can foster the development of biomethane. First and foremost, as we said that the system bears just a tiny part of the connection costs, and this is a great hindrance because in the other countries of Europe, it's exactly the opposite. It's the system which bears most of the connection costs, and producers will have just a minor, tiny part of it. The second issue is a flexibilization of the networks, of the grids that will receive biomethane. We're doing a lot in this respect. We are investing a lot, and we're ready to contribute to this development.
Moving on to hydrogen, as we said before, well, I think we should rather focus on research and development now because hydrogen has a huge potential in terms of energy vector and in terms of energy storage, but costs are still not competitive compared to the energy costs today. We must invest a lot in research and development. We're not the only one to say so. Here you see a map of all the development projects that are being carried out in Europe. Europe is actually the hub of development in the field of hydrogen production with impact on other sectors, transportation, for example, and other sectors that can hardly reduce their CO2 emissions.
For these activities, the recovery fund money is really important for the development of the hydrogen technology. Only with that, we will be able, in a few years, to make hydrogen as an important energy vector that is also competitive. We also have to play our role as distributors. We have to play this role both for biomethane and for hydrogen. This is a study within the framework of the project Ready4H2. In this research study, the different distribution networks were analyzed, the famous 2 million km available in Europe. They analyzed their readiness to accept biomethane. One-fourth can be ready to accept hydrogen in a pure state.
From now to 2040, with the upgrade and development of the networks, we will reach two-thirds of the grids ready for hydrogen. I don't think we will be able to reach this situation because hydrogen will be most probably blended with other gases, for example, biomethane, but also synthetic gases, because hydrogen can be easily transformed into a pure synthetic gas through the combination of hydrogen and CO2. In conclusion, we have been developing a strategy for many years, this development strategy of Italgas is absolutely in line with the objectives of REPowerEU and is absolutely in compliance with the three aforementioned targets, security of power supply, ecologic transition, and competitiveness of the energy sources. These are the core targets. I will not repeat them.
If you follow the presentation of the strategic plans, you will certainly remember all this very well. Let's now focus on some numbers, both concerning the plan and concerning the year 2022 that has just closed. As far as investments are concerned, the plan that we submitted in June provides for EUR 8.6 billion for the plan period 2022-2028. Please note, we have Greece that accounts for EUR 1.8 billion, EUR 1 billion for the acquisition that was carried out, EUR 800,000 for the development of the distribution network in Greece. EUR 4.5 billion, slightly more than half of the funds, for the upgrade, for the digitalization of the distribution network, in Italy.
We have about EUR 500 million for the development of the energy efficiency and the water businesses. As far as the gas tenders are concerned, I will dwell on that later on. Let's see the breakdown of the investments. Out of EUR 4.5, slightly less than EUR 3 billion are for repurposing. That is, we have to prepare our networks for receiving without any problems methane, biomethane, and hydrogen. Extension, maintenance, innovation, technical innovation, and the development of the energy efficiency of our networks, and this is the business of energy efficiency. How will our networks look like in the future? Let's say in the near future, because this is already happening and will be completed by 2024. Our networks will have three main features.
They are digital, they are smart. Well, they are already smart. They are smart because they're digital, and they are flexible networks. They are digital networks because all the devices, and we will see the progressive plan, so all the devices in the network are able to transfer information and receive instructions, remote instructions. They are smart devices because smart networks because the data received from the devices are analyzed and used to react to contingencies and situations that may occur in the network. I will give you an example afterwards. They are, or better, they will be flexible because they are able to reverse the flow, and so changing the typical way of working of a network, of a distribution network that receives gas from a transporter and transports it to the final user.
We do this with an in-house system, DANA, Digital Advanced Network Automation. This DANA system allows us to remotely supervise our network, but also to react from remote if we have to adjust any parameters when needed. We have already a first example. In the past few weeks, we connected a biomethane plant producing biomethane from schnapps waste. The producer is Bonollo, a spirit producer in the region of Veneto. In a few months, we managed to connect this plant to our network. Well, it's a digital network, it has already shown its importance and relevance because while connecting this biomethane plant, we managed to continuously supervise the content of biomethane. As you know, biomethane has to comply with the specific parameters in order to be put into the grid.
We had tested that in a testing period. Production could not fully comply with the parameters. The valve was closed automatically, and biomethane was transported back to the producer. This means that the digital connections allowed the remote control and allowed to instantly react to any situations that cannot be acceptable in the grid. Just imagine if we hadn't had remote control and an instant reaction, we would have introduced into our network a biomethane that was not compliant with our characteristics, and we would have realized that a few days afterwards. This is just an example, but this is what happens on all our digital devices. This applies to system authorization, for example, to the system pressures, to the pressure values at the end of the system. We are the only player worldwide developing such a digital network.
We receive visits from Japan, from Australia, from the United States on a regular basis, people who come to see what we have managed to accomplish. This is our plan, which is about to be completed for the asset digitalization. Smart meters, this is an issue that has already been accomplished. We are already thinking about introducing a second generation of smart meters, capitalizing on the experiences gathered on over 8 million smart meters installed, learning from the problems we had, because we should not forget that this was a meter built when technology was not at the cutting edge. We draw some lessons from this experience, and now we are developing a smart meter which will be proprietary. We will have the patent and will be installed starting from the end of 2025, both in Greece and progressively in Italy.
As soon as we replace existing meters, we will replace meters based on the need. We developed that type of meter in order to react to any possible service interruption of the GPS signal from a telecommunication company. We will not wait until then. We will install these smart meters beforehand. We haven't only invested in smart meters. All devices are being transformed into digital technology. Apart from the meters, all these devices did not exist on the market. We engineered them, and we asked our suppliers to build them.
The benefits of these digital transformation are, besides the quality of service, the ability to provide immediate and concrete answers in the daily grid business, but we also have economic benefits, financial benefits, not only in the years to come, but these are benefits that we could already ripe. According to our estimates, and actually we underestimate that, so we will have EUR 300 million in the plan period. It's an underestimation because nobody has done so such things in the past. We are a benchmark for the market. We have no benchmarking. We have no parameters to compare with. We think that and we see that digitalization is providing us with benefits that we couldn't imagine.
It's not by chance that we've managed to reduce our costs on a continuous basis by at least 5% on a year-to-year basis. Within this very beautiful and optimistic scenario, we must also consider the downsides. These does not depend on us. The downside are gas tenders. They should have been completed by 2018, but they're still lagging behind. We participated in some of them. We've won in most of them. We are envisaging to invest almost EUR 2 billion between new investments and acquisitions. There's good news there, and there's a positive element which is emerging. The new government, the new ministry is about to develop new guidelines for the calls for tenders.
The criteria for winning tenders were actually established back in 2018 when digitalization and innovation were not such a priority, especially in our industry. Now the ministry is reviewing the guidelines with the aim of rewarding digitalization, innovation. We are the only one pursuing these targets in Italy. For this reason, we are looking at these developments with the utmost interest because this will provide us with a competitive edge. Just a couple of words on Greece. The closing was finalized in September 2022, and in December, we took over 49% of EDA THESS that was owned by Eni.
We have 100% of the Greek market through three distributors, one located in Athens, one based in Thessaloniki, and the third one that will be in charge of developing the network in the remaining part of Greece. Because we are trying to transfer to Greece the skills, the competencies, and the innovations that we have achieved in Italy, so that we can speed up the process and so that we can follow the same path as we did in Italy, maybe more quickly with the network digitalization, with the digital transformation of the company, the development and the development, the support to the development of biomethane, green hydrogen. All the topics that I mentioned before. We can do so in a country where we have a long-term concession.
It will expire in 2023, but will be renewed. We are doing so in an ecosystem where development is key and new networks have to be built. This is very similar to the process that we completed very successfully in Sardinia. Just 1 final words before going on with the income statement. By 2028, we foresee that our asset value, the RAB, well, RAB is also recognized by the authority. It's not an estimate. It's a valorization that we receive from a third-party entity, over EUR 12 billion, in other words, more than EUR 12 million customers, end customers, both including Greece, the tenders, and the organic development of our scope of activity.
Well, before moving on to numbers, let me just spend a couple of words on two sectors, water and energy efficiency. As I said, 2022. In 2022, our Geoside more than tripled its results in terms of EBITDA and revenues. Our market share was very tiny and now increased to more than 2.5%. We aim at improving even further, especially by focusing on energy efficiency with greater technology contents. We do not want an energy efficiency as it is the case for many large players. We want to achieve the energy efficiency for all the industries, for all the sectors, whereby the content of technology and digitalization is very high.
In this area, we do not only have an issue with the market share, which is a secondary target, but we also have an issue with profitability, which is extremely high, 18% in 2022. We want to stick to within a range of 15%-18% in terms of EBITDA. We have shown we are able to achieve these goals, and we want to pursue this path. Well, of course, our main objective is the technology and innovation content that allows to keep such high margins. Revenues are less relevant in this business sector. Water. Well, this is a target that we have set for many years. We have a small management company in the province of Caserta.
We are trying with utmost effort to transform that type of management, while we can hardly obtain the authorization in order to intervene and improve the performance of the network. As I said, we have negotiated on an exclusive basis with Veolia in order to distribute water in three regions: Sicily, in the province of Latina, so Lazio, and Campania. We hope we will be able to close the deal because I think that the two businesses are very synergetic and well, in those areas, water leaks are over 50%, and nowadays we have a problem with water scarcity. I think that only digitalization can be the solution.
If we take the network as it is, by adding some smart technologies on it, we will be able to reduce water leaks by more than 15, 20%. In order to reduce the leaks even further, we have to refurbish the network and replace some pipes that are really very old. Now, very quickly, just a couple of financial data for 2022, and I'm about to conclude. Well, the figures are self-explanatory. If you look at the numbers, both adjusted and reported, are increasing significantly versus 2021. The only issue we have to pay attention to are cash flows. We suffered from two elements that impacted on the cash flow. First, well, the energy efficiency business with the end of bonuses and concessions.
Well, we obtained them from well, within our company, and we got credits from within the company. We were planning to sell something, but we could not. The second element is the impact of the war in Ukraine, all the measures taken by the government for the end users and which have partly impacted on our financial position. We will certainly recover that, but for the time being, we've suffered in 2022 a lot. The cash flow in 2022 was lower than the cash flow we had in the previous years. If we look at numbers versus 2016, you see the progress achieved by this company, thanks to the commitment of the entire staff and the people working for Italgas.
I will not comment on the individual figures, but if you look at them, they are really impressive. Please note that in this period, we have received from the authority lower revenues by more than EUR 200 million. Only in 2022, if compared with 2017, has revenues, let's say, in favor of the system for EUR 115 million less. Just imagine the revenues we would have achieved without this regulation. This makes us happy because it shows that a part of our ability of being efficient and better than others was given back to the system through a reduction of distribution costs. Cumulative, we have given back to the system more than EUR 200 million, and I think we should be proud of that.
Notwithstanding that, our investments have more than tripled in the past years, EUR 378 in 2016, and now we are at EUR 1 billion, more or less. From the viewpoint of debt, which is another element we have to pay attention to, especially in the past 12 months with the increase in interest rates. Luckily, since 2017 and between 2017 and 2021
We had a wise interest rate policy, especially when the cost of money was equal to zero. As you see, the first deadlines will accrue next year for bonds. EUR 400 million, and the rest are credit lines from banks. Our cost is relatively low now. It will increase in the years ahead. 91% of our debt is fixed income debt. Only a minor part is variable rate. Both Moody's and Fitch have confirmed the rating value as of the end of 2022, and that's good news. We do not only pay attention to the economic and financial situation.
In the past two years especially, we have focused on sustainability, which has become one of our pillars. I said, if we wanted to focus on sustainability just to fill out a couple of tables and to do some greenwashing, I don't care for sustainability. It's just a cost in that case without any impact. We instead adopted another type of attitude. We treat one kilo of CO2 exactly as one euro in our income statement. Every month, when we look at the monthly results of the company, we also analyze our results in terms of CO2 emissions, energy consumption, waste, processing, et cetera. For this reason, in 2022, thanks to these analyses, and thanks to the measures that we've put in place and that we've speeded up, we managed to achieve very positive results.
In just one year, in 2022, we reduced by 21% our energy consumption in the broad sense of the word, so both gas and power consumption, and this is really huge. We therefore reduce CO2 emissions by 12%, scope one and two. When within this path, we also obliged our suppliers to report on their CO2 emissions and energy consumptions as we do. Well, the numbers that we receive from them, and this is the scope three, must be aligned to our standards, and that's the only way to proceed. Also, people have been at the heart of our attention.
If you consider the information we distributed, also in complicated years, for instance, 2020, 2021, in the period of lockdown, in a period that can be considered as a complicated one. In 2022, we doubled the hours of training compared to 2019, and we increased also the number of women in responsibility roles within the enterprise in general. We have a legacy that is extremely important, which comes from our history, from our sector, we cannot change everything fortnight. The path we are in will allow us to change, anyway, our mindset in a few years. I conclude with the proposition of the dividend. The board of directors of the 9th of March proposes to this assembly the distribution of EUR 0.317 per share. That is an increase compared to last year.
It is in line with the average growth from 2019. We have an average CAGR of 7.4%. This is a sustainable growth. As you can see, it has been... Also the dividend plan is sustainable, and we have the higher from the between the payout and the growth rate. Thanks for the attention, and I give now the floor again to the chairperson. Thank you, Paolo. I ask the notary to proceed with the consent of those present to read out the board of directors' proposed resolution regarding items one and two on the agenda of the ordinary part of today's shareholders meetings and to carry out the shareholder intervention.
Item one, considering, having acknowledged the reports of the directors, the board of statutory auditors and independent auditors, and integrated annual report as at the 31st December 2022, you are invited to approve the financial statement as at the 31st December 2022 of Italgas, with the, which is closed with a profit of EUR 259,813,111.40.
The board of directors propose it to allocate EUR 400,000 to the legal reserve, to allocate the shareholder as dividend per share 0.317 in proportion to the shares outstanding on the ex-dividend date using the profit for the year resulting from the financial statements of Italgas S.p.A. as of 31st December 2022, allocate any remaining amount to retained earnings to pay a dividend of 0.317 per share as of 24th May 2023, with ex-dividend date set for 22nd May 2023, and record date on 23rd May 2023. I now turn to item three and I give the floor to the chairperson of the Nomination and Remuneration Committees, Ms. Fabiola Mascardi, to read out the letter to stakeholders prepared by the Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
Thanks, Mr. Chairperson.
Good evening, everyone. Dear shareholders, I'm pleased to present the report on the 2023 remuneration policy and 2022 compensation, a document with which we aim to transparently and comprehensively communicate Italgas remuneration policy and their link with the business and sustainability strategy, increasingly strengthening the constructive dialogue with all stakeholders. The Nomination and Remuneration Committee established following the shareholders' meetings of 26th of April 2022, and to date, composed of, in addition to the undersigned, directors Manuela Sabbatini and Claudio De Marco, and I thank them for their precious contribution, is in the first year of its three-year term of office and deems it and I believe it's important to thank the previous member of the committee for what has been achieved.
Thanks to the listening to the main stakeholders and the analysis carried out by the independent consultants, the Nomination and Remuneration Committee was able to assert in a general appreciation of Italgas remuneration policy, which was also reflected in the favorable votes cast by the shareholders meeting for both sections of the report. The committee believes that the group's remuneration policy still represents a pivotal element for the achievement of business and sustainability objectives in the medium, long run, and for the creation of value for shareholders. Therefore, the activity and...
the activities and decisions of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee for this remuneration policy aim to ensure full alignment with the 2022-2028 strategic plan and with the value creation plan, aiming at developing in a sustainable way and on the odd end, to submit for shareholders' approval a document consistent with the path taken by Italgas in the recent years, which has seen a progressive evolution, both from a business and a remuneration policy perspective. 2022 has certainly been an important year in the history of Italgas.
In fact, the group played an increasingly leading role in the digitalization of the distribution network in Italy and in the development of the business related to energy efficiency and has led to the final closing of the acquisition of DEPA Infrastructure in September with the related integration processes. This has been well explained by our CEO. Italgas is therefore set to actively work outside its national borders, exporting the high level of knowledge and expertise that the group can boast in the gas sector and in the digitalization of the business. This will result in great higher complexities and new challenges for the group, which, however, has all the right measures to face them in the best possible way.
This report on remuneration policy and the compensation paid has the aim of maintaining a constant alignment between Italgas business evolution and the remuneration strategy and the creation of sustainable value by the company for all its stakeholders, all this combined with the will to further improve transparency and the level of representation of all useful information. I think it's relevant to highlight a few elements that you will find described in the document. For balance between economic financial indicators, which remain the key for to measuring results in term of corporate management and the ESG indicators, which are essential to the sustainable development undertaken by the company and by the market.
The introduction for the first time in the history of the group of shareholding guidelines for the chief executive officer, which envisage the holding of a predefined number of Italgas shares for the entire term of office. This further strengthens the link between remuneration, performance, and shareholder interests, as well as a constant alignment with best market practices. The document has been further revised, introducing a specific section on changes introduced for 2023, and giving more and more prominence to the link between performance and remuneration, especially from a sustainable development perspective, with a focus on the main achievements in terms of sustainability, diversity, and inclusion. In addition, the layout has been further revised in order to improve the level of transparency and communication of the contents.
The representation of the different initiatives carried out in favor of all Italgas people is confirmed, thanks also to listening tools such as the climate survey, with view to support welfare and wellbeing, and in line with the objectives set out in the sustainable value creation plan. The 2023 remuneration policy is defined in continuity with the previous one, and stems from a number of key principles. Consistency, internal and external market analysis carried out in 2022 ensure full alignment with the main market and governance practices, with the aim of ensuring proposals and decisions of the board of directors that are faithful to Italgas remuneration policy, and to the approach that has always been communicated to stakeholders on remuneration issues.
Listening, leveraging a constant and in-depth dialogue with all internal and external stakeholders in order to ensure the full correspondence of remuneration policy with the key factors of the strategic plan and the creation of shareholder value. The committee welcomed the increase in positive votes at the 2022 shareholders meeting, and once again, conducted with the support of human resources and organization function, an in-depth analysis of the main evidence that emerged in order to identify the areas for improvement on which to intervene, and which you will find in this document. I believe it's extremely important to point out to the continuity in listening to Italgas people, stakeholders par excellence, through a special climate survey conducted, which was also conducted in 2022, and in which 86% of group employees in Italy and 80% of employees in Greece participated.
Sustainability and inclusion. The issues of sustainability inclusion, as well as the remuneration to short, medium, long-term objectives, and the link to the share price are constantly at the heart of the group's strategic decisions. We can mention the incentive plans to, for the management, both in the short and in the long run, as mentioned for the new LTI Plan, ensuring a strong alignment with Italgas materiality and sustainability strategy. The overall alignment is also ensured by a structured process of assigning objectives with the various corporate function, which determines a high level of commitment to the achievement of sustainability objectives set forth in Italgas strategic plan in relation to environment, social issues, and governance issues, including network safety, on which the company has always focused its attention.
This report highlights also the main results achieved in 2022, both in terms of environmental sustainability and in terms of inclusion and diversity. With regard to this last point, it's important to highlight the results that have been achieved in terms of presence of women in roles of responsibility, which reached 24.7% at the end of 2022. This is a topic which is always a priority for the group, and it still remains a priority for 2023. The remuneration policy is also consistent with the company's vision, mission, and purpose, and with the new leadership model developed by top management based on three main pillars: excellence, innovation, and people. The values and principles are fully reflected in the policy and will be the basis for its further development.
We believe that this approach can be positively assessed and reflects the expectation of all Italgas stakeholders, while ensuring a remuneration policy aligned with national and international best practices. I'd like to take the chance to thank my colleagues, directors, and members of the nomination and remuneration committee, Manuela Sabbatini and Claudio De Marco, for their passionate work together and the excellent start of the activities of this committee. I'd like also to thank Lorenzo Parola, who preceded me at the beginning of this term in the role of committee chairperson, in the hope that this report represents an effective and exhaustive overview of Italgas remuneration policy. I'd like to thank you For your willingness to engage in discussion and for your support during the shareholders meeting with a view to continue our dialogue aiming at achieving common and ambitious goals.
Thanks, Fabiola. I ask the notary to proceed with the consent of those present to read out the Board of Directors' proposed resolutions regarding item 3 on the agenda of the ordinary part of today's shareholders meeting.
There are two resolutions, 3.1. The ordinary shareholders meeting of Italgas S.p.A., having examined the report of the Board of Directors drafted pursuant to Article 123-ter of Legislative Decree no. 58 as amended for the purpose set forth in paragraph 3-ter of the aforesaid provision, and therefore with binding resolution, deliberate to approve the remuneration policy illustrated in the first section of the report on remuneration policy and compensation paid, drafted pursuant to Article 123-ter of Legislative Decree 58 as amended and other applicable regulations.
The second part, the ordinary shareholders meeting of Italgas S.p.A., having examined the report, as amended, for the purposes set forth in paragraph six of the aforesaid provision, deliberate to approve the second section of the report on remuneration policy and compensation paid, drafted pursuant to Article 123-ter of Legislative Decree 58 as amended. I can also read the deliberation for the last point, and then we can give the floor for discussion. Last point, is the following.
The shareholders meeting of Italgas met in ordinary session, having acknowledged the proposal of the board of directors regarding the 2023-2025 Long-Term Incentive Plan, and having examined the illustrative report of the board of directors and the information document prepared by the board of directors pursuant to Article 84-bis of the Issuers' Regulation, deliberate to approve pursuant to and for the purposes of Article 114-bis of the Consolidated Law on Finance and agreeing with the reasons therefore, the 2023-2025 Long-Term Incentive Plan under the terms and conditions described in the information document attached to the board of directors report to ground the board of directors and the Chief Executive Officer on its behalf with the express right to subdelegate any and all powers necessary to or appropriate to fully and completely implement the aforesaid 2023-2025 Long-Term Incentive Plan.
Also, through delegated person, including, the powers of proceed with the annual allocation of the incentive in favor of the Chief Executive Officer, it being understood that any decision relating to the implementation of the plan in respect of the Chief Executive Officer shall remain in the sole responsibility of the Board of Directors, draft and approve the regulation of each annual allocation and make any amendments and/or additions deemed necessary. It identify beneficiaries on the basis of the defined criteria, define any other term and condition for the implementation of the 2023-2025 Long-Term Incentive Plan insofar, and they do not conflict with the provisions of this resolution and provide for the disclosure to the market, the drafting and/or the finalization of any document necessary and appropriate in relation to the plan, pursuant to applicable laws and regulation in the execution of this resolution.
Thanks to the notary. We have Bava Marco, Geremia Carlo on item one of the agenda. Financial statements as at 31st December. Approval of remuneration policy, incentive plan. On all items on the agenda, I give you the floor. Marco Bava.
I am Marco Bava. My internet sites are the following, www.marcobava.it, and I declare that I do not want to make a suicide and accidents could be just casual ones. I noticed that you were a bit deceived by some questions I asked. I remind you that the city had a court affair for bribes, and I asked during the assembly if someone paid bribes. At a personal level, I am sorry, but I have to tell you this, I have a question concerning a supply, my supply, and I know that Mr. Gallo already knows about it. Mr. Gallo says that in Via Cristalliera, there are 15 PDR that have not been set because of the impossibility to access. My PDR that is in the bill has always been the same. Meters are not readable.
I hope these meters will be readable in the future. I would like to test them. As far as the strategic issue is concerned about Italy and Greece, I've always said that I didn't rely on Russia, on gas, and according to me, gas would have always been more and more difficult in the future for this company. Hydrogen, for me, is also an alternative that is impossible for me. I've seen that there have been improvements towards shareholders, but I do not have time to deepen here. It's simple. The hydrogen production compared to the energy value, the ratio is 2:1, and this is something clear. Hydrogen is a storage fuel. It is used for auto traction. It is used for storage in energy production in specific cases.
Unfortunately, I do not have time to enter into details here. This is a path you know. On the page dedicated to hydrogen, you write a paragraph which is extremely technical. Unfortunately, I do not have time to find it now. Anyway, I believe it is question number 14. You say that you produce hydrogen for distributors, so short pipelines. You know that hydrogen needs specific pipelines in stainless steel. Just for you to say, to understand, we have to think about hydrogen pipes from North Africa to Europe. It doesn't make sense to have pipelines for this. It dangerous. It's dangerous. It's not efficient from the point of view of costs. It's obvious that we produce hydrogen through renewable energies.
Which is the sense of producing hydrogen in Africa and then to transfer it to Europe and then burn it in order to produce energy. It's better to put energy in submarine cables. There is the topic about maintenance to be taken into account. You know the level of danger. Hydrogen is not gas, and you all understand the difference. You confirm also this in your answers for question number 14. The same for other topics. What about the future of Italgas? I've always spoken about water, and Mr. Gallo mentioned it. We are thinking about it. We didn't already implemented something. I want to ask you one thing. First, how much does it cost to acquire Veolia? What are the risks in this?
You know, you come from Piedmont, I think. No, I come from Rome. I believe that Acque Potabili tried to do this in the southern part of Italy, it failed. Romano, the president of SMAT, tried to work on that. I always tried to tell him that this was absurd, I tell you the same thing. Water is important, not in the south, because people in the south do not pay for water. It's obvious that we risk to have negative effects. Last thing about information distribution. I just want to understand why our counselor, I will read your name maybe in the wrong pronunciation, Mr. Schell. Why your remuneration, fixed remuneration is higher compared to the remuneration of other counselors?
Another thing, you made a list of bonds. Unfortunately, interest rates have not been indicated, at least average rates. You didn't listen because I told you that the cost of debt is less than 1%. Mr. Gallo. This is one of the answers I read. I'm trying just to find it. In my questions, I asked that and TIR. TIR is 5%. I don't find the answer now, and that is 1%. Congratulations, of course, since you indicate many bonds, I'd like to know within those bonds what is the interest rate? You gave the right answer, this is positive, I would like further details. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I would now. There are no further questions as far as I know. We can answer the questions immediately without any break. Let's move forward without interrupting the proceedings. I should apologize because apparently I haven't been clear. I was not very clear when I talked about hydrogen. Let me just point out one thing. When I was very young, I was a little child, so I don't remember that, but when gas was produced in the cities from the production of coal and coke, and it was stored in gasometers, hydrogen reached almost 40% depending on the combustion process, and it flew through iron, cast iron pipelines. This was just incidentally to remind you of history.
As we set out very clearly in our strategic plan, in our opinion, hydrogen will become cost-effective as soon as we have a surplus of energy production from renewable sources of energy. Whenever we have a surplus, what does it happen? Photovoltaic, wind, solar energy. Well, in that case, we have two options. Either we switch off the plant, and switching off a plant for renewable sources of energy, you just have costs, or you use that energy for other purposes. As you may well realize, this energy has no value at all. Its value is nil. What is the dilemma of the producer of renewable sources of energy then? Should I switch off the plant, thus generating costs? Or should I use that energy with a value equal to zero for storage purposes?
Well, storage is another dilemma. Where do I store that energy? In batteries? Well, I think this is not a very wise decision, or I transform that into hydrogen. Why that? Because hydrogen can be used for transportation, for the industry. I can put it into our pipelines. I can combine it with CO2, producing synthetic methane, and I can consume hydrogen, and not only in the place of storage, but also in other places. Why is hydrogen now not cost effective? Well, if I have a plant producing from renewable sources of energy, there's no doubt you should let energy flow into the grid. Well, that's quite obvious. You don't need any specific skills.
As plants foresee, not only in Italy, but throughout Europe, well, in Italy, there will be 6 GW, so 6,000 megawatts, of new plants installed on a yearly basis. So we will not need these plants for certain periods of time. I may switch them off, or I can store energy for the use of hydrogen. That's cost effective because that energy has a zero cost. In the meantime, research and development will allow to reduce the costs for the electrolysis process, which is still very expensive today. I think we are aligned from this viewpoint, so we share the same opinion. Almost the same opinion. I said almost. I do not want to express your opinion. This is what I said.
The definition of energy vector, but I do not want to open up a discussion within two people. We can discuss afterwards under four eyes and not in the meeting. The energy vector has a specific definition. Hydrogen does not exist in nature. It becomes energy vector because I can store energy and I can carry it around. Okay? That's the definition of vector. Maybe I was not clear. Veolia, now let me try and answer the question. The transaction value, the deal value is a sensitive piece of information. It's confidential. It's still under negotiation. We will disclose that if and when we close the deal. As well, concerning what you said on Acque Potabili, I do not want to give you an answer. That gentleman is not...
I do not want to express my opinion on him. The difference between now and 10, 15 years ago is that today we have technologies allowing to overcome all the problems and issues you mentioned. Just as an example, we are installing smart meters that can be closed remotely, that can be used from far away, as we do for gas, so this applies to water as well. There are technologies in place that allow us to foresee or to react immediately in case of water leaks. Just to give you some numbers, the leaks that we record in our gas infrastructure are equal to 0.1%. Well, for water, we said 50, 60, so we have two completely different parameters.
With our technologies, we will be able to reduce leaks under 50% at least. I think only large players with large structures and with large abilities to deploy technologies and innovations, as it is the case for Italgas, can intervene also in Southern Italy in order to improve water distribution there as well. There was a question on bonds. Well, I mentioned the average cost of debt. If you want to know the cost of every individual bond, go to page 103 of the financial statements, and you find the costs of all the bonds issued since 2017. There was another question on board member Shen. Why is his fixed compensation higher? Well, you may say because he's better than the others. Well, that's a joke.
Simply because he worked the entire year, he started as a board member since the beginning of the year. The other board members started in April. He has more months seniority, let's say, more months of seniority compared to the other board members. That's the reason for his higher compensation. As far as your personal meter is concerned, we will analyze that. Well, as far as we know, your meter was replaced, but you're right if you complain because you cannot read it. We will analyze that in depth. Maybe they forgot, the secretariat is here, maybe they forgot. We're not doing so only for the shareholders attending the meeting. I often receive mails of people complaining about the poor service.
Well, I think our main target is that of providing high-quality services, and we will certainly analyze your case, and we will give you a punctual, precise answer. Well, you know, the first meters we installed had GPRS. These meters that we are installing right now are have NB-IoT narrowband technology. The new ones are even better. We are testing them right now. We should test about 20,000, but we will use your meter as a test meter as we have to test 20,000 units. We will use your meter to test. Well, this should happen at the end of 2024. We will take your PDR, and we will install this new generation meter, and you will tell us whether it works.
Ilaria always tells the truth. All right. Okay. Just a second. I ask the chairperson's office, considering that there's no other interventions, so we can now vote. No replies are allowed. Only two-minute statements are allowed. Please.
Well, it's difficult to start a dialogue, but, well, let me go straight to the point. No one knows the truth, but I have to acknowledge that compared to the past, many things have changed. As a Turin inhabitant and, well, we both worked for Fiat. He was a manager, and I was a complainant, let's say. Well, the positive thing is that you finally managed to increase the value of the Turin headquarters.
We spent a lot of money, that's true, but this money was well spent because this these headquarters well represent the history of this company. You mentioned history. Well, I know history very well. I don't know if you know that, but the new university was built on the old gasometer area where there was a lands field. You know, Miss Chairperson, Are you a civil or a criminal lawyer? Because if you are a lawyer, you are usually very aware of what you do. As far as hydrogen is concerned, I would say the future of hydrogen is locally. Well, as Toyota Prius testifies and shows, the future of hydrogen is transportation.
Well, at the end of the day, hydrogen is produced through electrolyzers that are powered by power. Then as for the infrastructures, you're right when you mentioned the problems related to the infrastructures. Well, you know, it doesn't make any sense to invest money, also European money, in something that doesn't make any sense simply to protect the positions of some people who supported gas previously and now support hydrogen. Of course, we are a special company, and even though we lose huge amounts of money, as it was the case for Saipem, we do not pay the price personally. At the end of the day, you know, the money is still our money.
The results achieved by Paolo Gallo trying to diversify the business show that this company has a huge potential, capitalizing on its track record. I urge you not to invest in hydrogen. Please consider that this so-called innovation through hydrogen doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense what Europe is trying to pursue. Paolo Gallo said something which is not completely true. Well, as soon as hydrogen as a fuel will be used, hopefully first in Italy and then in other countries, there will no longer be a surplus that can be used for hydrogen for free, let's say. We will need all the energies to produce hydrogen, as he said, to store energy, to produce electricity at night when it snows, when there's no renewable source.
Well, hydrogen can be produced, but in the power plant. In the power plant. The power plant needs a storage unit, and hydrogen is produced by the distributor. Mr. Chairperson, this is a huge potential, a huge business potential for Italgas if it is aware of that. Just imagine all distributors, and by the way, I have a bimodal project for gasoline and hydrogen, well, all distributors will have to go to move to hydrogen. Just imagine the potential of such a market and the need for locally produced hydrogen in the future, in the future, but I mean months and not years. This being said, and just to give you a strong and clear sign, I will abstain from all the voting procedures, and I will trust you, Mr. Chairperson.
I invite you to follow all these issues more directly with greater awareness and sensitivity. No one is knowledgeable in all the different sectors, but you, in your role, can urge and invite this board to focus its attention on these specific items.
Thank you very much. I declare the discussion closed, and I invite the Notary Public to proceed with the voting procedures.
Thank you very much. Let's start with item number one. 82.5% of the share capital is present, 669,061,202. Now we can, you can cast your vote with the televoter. Old people, have you all voted? In favor, 82.39%. With the numbers that you will find in the minutes, against... Sorry.
99.84% of the people present. Against 0.01%. Abstained 0.14%. There are no non-voters or shares that were not counted. The resolution on item 1 is approved by majority. Now item number two. For the profits, concerning the profits. In favor of item two, 99.99% of the shares are present at the meeting. No people against. Abstained 36,256 shares, 0.05%. No non-voters and no shares that cannot be counted. Now voting procedure on 3.1, which is the voting procedure on the remuneration policy, part one. The first part of the policy was approved by 92.85% of the shares present.
Against 6.58% of the shares present. Abstention 0.56% of the shares present. No non-voters or shares that were not counted. The proposed resolution is approved. Now the resolution on 3.2 concerning the non-binding resolution on the second section of the remuneration policy concerning the fees, the compensations. In favor, 94.56% of the votes. Against, 4.9%. Abstentions, 0.4%. The resolution is approved by majority. Finally, the resolution on the fourth item on the agenda. The voting procedure is open. In favor, 98.77% of the shares. Against, 1.2%. Abstentions, three shares. The number of voters has remained unchanged, as mentioned before.
The numbers and the list of the names of the voting of the voters will be attached to the minutes. There being no other business to be transacted, first of all, I would like to thank all the people who have contributed to the organization of this meeting, the entire board of directors, especially the shareholders, their businesses. I declare today's shareholders meeting closed at 4:30 P.M., and I wish good luck to the company for the following year. Thank you