Hello and welcome to the Terna first half 2022 results presentation. My name is Jess, and I'll be your coordinator for today's event. For the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen only. However, there will be the opportunity to ask questions. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question at any time. If at any point you require assistance, please press star zero and you will be connected to an operator. I will now hand over to your host, Stefano Donnarumma, CEO, to begin today's call. Thank you.
Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to Terna's first half 2022 results presentation. Before starting to analyze the figures, I would like to share with you the latest main achievements. Firstly, let me remind you that in the 24th of March, we presented the update of 2021-2025 industrial plan Driving Energy. That foresees EUR 10 million of investments, of which EUR 9.5 billion of regulated investments, confirming our role in driving a more complex, sustainable, and innovative electricity system. In this regard, important steps forward have been done regarding authorization process and construction activities. In April, we concluded the public consultation on the west branch of the Tyrrhenian Link. In May, we submitted to the Italian Minister of Ecological Transition the request for the authorization to construct and operate the west branch. Concerning international activities, the already announced LATAM, the consolidation process is ongoing.
The signing was completed in April, while the closing of the deal foresees multiple steps, most of which in the second half of 2022. All operational activities are in line with the milestone set in the deal. Regarding people, in April, Terna announced the Tyrrhenian Lab initiative, a project aimed to set up a training center in collaboration with the main universities of the three cities where the cables of the Tyrrhenian links will land, namely Cagliari, Salerno, and Palermo. In addition, in July, we launched the Terna Academy, the new training and research hub aimed to developing the expertise of employees within the group. In line with the goals set with the update of the industrial plan, Terna wants to strengthen and promote the new skills through an innovative culture and training offer to support the energy transition.
I would like to confirm our strong ESG commitment in line with the updated industrial plan. Indeed, for the second consecutive year, the company was included in the MIB ESG, the first Italian blue-chip index dedicated to environmental, social, and governance best practices. Terna is also once again being confirmed as one of the top companies at international level for sustainability best practices, according to the Euronext Vigeo Eiris, the FTSE4Good, and S&P Global ESG Index. Finally, regarding shareholders' remuneration, let me remind you that in June, we paid EUR 0.1929 per share as 2021 final dividend, in line with the dividend policy presented in the updated industrial plan back in March. After this brief introduction, let me give you the usual overview of the Italian electricity market, moving to the next slide.
As you can appreciate from this chart, in the first six months of 2022, national demand was about 158 TWh, an increase of 2.7% versus the same period of the last year, when national demand was about 154 TWh. I would like to underline that despite the challenging scenario related to the ongoing energy crisis, in the first half of 2022, electricity consumption returned to the values registered in the first half of 2019. Concerning the national net total production, this stood at about 138 TWh, 3.4% higher than the same period of 2021, mainly thanks to the contribution of wind and solar productions.
Let me also underline that in the first half of 2022, renewable sources covered about 33% of the demand and about 37% of the national net total production. Now let me introduce the main features of the period. In the first half of 2022, group revenues and EBITDA were up by 6% and 4% respectively versus last year, which means EUR 75 million and EUR 37 million higher than the first half of 2021, while group net income was EUR 398 million, about 4% higher versus last year. Group CapEx stood at EUR 661 million, an increase of 10% versus the same period of last year, in line with the targets set in the 10-year development plan and in our updated industrial plan. Despite this CapEx acceleration, net debt was below EUR 9 billion.
Now, I leave the floor to the CFO, Agostino Scornajenchi, for a deeper analysis of the features of the period, turning to the next slide.
Thank you, Stefano. Let's start with revenues analysis. Total revenues in the first half of 2022 increased by 5.9%, reaching EUR 1,331 million, up by EUR 75 million versus last year. The growth was attributable both to regulated and non-regulated activities, which contributed for EUR 60 million and EUR 15 million respectively. Let's now go into the details of revenue evolution, moving to the next slide. Regulated revenues reached EUR 1,154 million, EUR 60 million better than last year. The increase was mainly due to higher output-based incentive effects related to the higher benefits generated for the system, net of the WACC reduction recognized for 2022. Non-regulated and international revenues reached EUR 177 million, 8.8% higher than last year.
Non-regulated growth was mainly attributable to the increase in revenues of the energy solutions, mostly related to LT Group , and to the increased contribution coming from Tamini. International revenues were set to zero in accordance with IFRS 5 accounting standard referred to assets held for sale. Now, let's go through operating cost analysis. As you can see in this chart, total operating costs stood at EUR 384 million, 10.8% higher than last year. Regarding regulated activities, the increase was mainly attributable to the insourcing of new competencies, while non-regulated activities have been impacted maybe by the LT Group recent acquisition. Let me now analyze EBITDA, moving to the next slide. Due to the previously mentioned effects, first half 2022 group EBITDA reached EUR 947 million, EUR 37 million better than last year.
The increase was mainly attributable to regulated activities, which contributed EUR 41 million versus last year, showing an EBITDA of EUR 923 million in the first half of 2022. Let's now have a look at the lower part of the profit and loss, turning to slide number 12. Depreciation and amortization amounted to EUR 340 million. The increase versus last year was mainly due to the impact of new assets becoming operational in the period. As a consequence, EBIT reached EUR 607 million, 4% higher versus the first half 2021. We reported net financial expenses at EUR 36 million. The increase versus last year was mainly due to the rise in inflation registered in the recent months, partially offset by increased capitalized charges and positive exchange rate effect.
Taxes stood at EUR 161 million, EUR 4 million higher versus last year, essentially due to increased profit. As direct consequence, our tax rate stood at 28.1%. As a result, group net income reached EUR 398 million, about 4% higher versus the same period of last year. Moving to CapEx analysis. In the first half of 2022, total CapEx amounted to EUR 661 million, 10% higher than last year, confirming the solid acceleration aim at enabling the energy transition process. Indeed, we invested about EUR 629 million in regulated activities. Among the main projects of the period, it is worth mentioning the Tyrrhenian Link, the Paternò-Pantano Priolo in Eastern Sicily, and the investment in stabilization devices as STATCOMs and Synchronous Compensators. Among CapEx categories, development CapEx represented 37% of total regulated CapEx.
Defense CapEx stood at 16%, while asset renewal and efficiency was 47%. Non-regulated and other CapEx stood at EUR 31 million. This includes capitalized financial charges and other investments. Regarding net debt and cash flow analysis, net debt at the end of June 2022 was about EUR 9 billion, about EUR 1 billion lower than 2021 year-end level, mainly due to the hybrid issuance made in February. Debt, in line with accounting standards, has been accounted as equity. During the period, we generated an operating cash flow of EUR 740 million, thanks to which we were able to more than cover the CapEx spending of the period. Let's now make a deeper analysis of our debt profile, moving to page 15.
In line with our prudent and proactive debt management approach, at the end of this first half, we registered a fixed over floating ratio on gross debt of about 86%, at an average duration of about five years. With the aim of confirming our leadership in the sustainable financial market, let me just remind you, the launch made in February of the first green hybrid bond for an Italian corporate, for a nominal amount of EUR 1 billion, successfully accepted by the market, as well as the ESG-linked term loan for a total amount of EUR 300 million. Thank you very much for your attention. Now, before the Q&A session, let me leave the floor to Stefano for his closing remarks. Thank you.
Thank you, Agostino. Let me conclude this presentation with some closing remarks. As you have appreciated from the previous charts, despite the challenging scenario, we registered a full recovery of the Italian electricity demand, which is now in line with the 2019 levels. Tragic events in Ukraine and the ongoing international energy crisis have made it necessary for the country to reduce the dependence on fossil resources and to continue developing renewables in line with the targets set by the European Union. In this context, the grid is a crucial enabling factor, and for this reason, Terna is continuing to boost its investments, confirming its institutional role in guaranteeing security of supply, system adequacy, and quality of service. As you know, a portion of our remunerations comes from the incentives mechanism linked to the achievement of specific targets.
For example, the improvement of the quality of service and the increase in transport capacity between market zones. Thanks to the output-based incentives, we are able to rebalance overall remuneration, maintaining our economical and financial stability, as well as our ability to invest, providing a fair capital remuneration. Our constant dialogue with the regulator will lead us to deliver a more efficient electricity system that will translate into lower costs for the final consumers. Finally, thanks to this solid set of results and our managerial actions, we are able to confirm all the provided guidance. Thank you for your attention. We are now ready to open the Q&A session.
If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Please ensure your line is unmuted locally as you will be advised when to ask your question. Once again, that's star one if you would like to ask a question. The first question comes from the line of Enrico Bartoli from Mediobanca. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, and thanks for taking my question. Actually, I have three. Two are more general. First of all, if you can update us on the request of connections to your grid that you have been seeing in the past months from renewables. Considering also the political push for independence from Russian gas, if you are seeing an acceleration in the request and an effective impact on the simplification measures so that the government taken in order to speed up the authorization processes. Second question is on just an opinion. If you...
On your side, if you see any risk in the coming winter from let's say possible cut of gas from Russia for the electricity system in Italy, considering that the reservoirs and the hydro production is at historical lows this year. The last one on our result, if you can give us a figure on the output-based incentives that you recorded in the first half and possibly an indication of what you expect for the second part of the year. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your question. I start from your first point, request for connection. Sure, we can observe a continuous increase of the requests for connection. We are now at a level of more than 180,000 connection requests. I think that the increase is continuous and constant. We don't see any acceleration at the moment, but in any case, it's a continuous process. In terms of authorization process and installation, real installation, for sure this year seems to be bigger than the year before. Not only last year, also the last two, three years.
Let me say that the rate of installations is increasing, and it depends also by a different and an accelerated process for authorization. For the winter situation, we see that the stock of gas is increasing. I think that if the situation doesn't change until October, it will be maybe enough gas in our Italian storage to go in front of the winter period. In any case, we can suppose some suggestion or decision by the government related to the reduction of the demand. I think that this is the most important point, but in any case, for the electricity system, we don't see any particular impact at the moment.
We are absolutely in line with the normal, let me say, conduction and normal, driving of the system. For the output-based incentives, Agostino, if you want to-
Yes. Thank you, Stefano. We accounted something like EUR 90 million of output-based incentive at the end of the first half, 2022. That is in line with the expectation that we do have for the year 2022. Consider that we have a total expectation on the business plan horizon, as communicated in March, of something close to EUR 500 million, EUR 490 million, to be precise, on three different categories. Incentives to reduce bottlenecks among and within market zones that are the incentives that have been already posted during the first half of 2022, and also incentives for reducing auxiliary service and market costs that will be posted starting from the second half of 2022.
Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Stefano Gamberini from Equita. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, everybody. Three questions also from my side. The first, regarding your financial flexibility in the new scenario with higher interest rates, how you can face the acceleration of CapEx that you have in the forthcoming years in your plan and even ahead. If you can elaborate a little bit about this. On the other side also, if you can share with us what are the expectations you have in terms of increase of allowed WACC from 2024 onwards, and also regarding the RAB deflator update, if the 2.7% for 2022, 2023, something set or still to debate with the regulator. The second question regarding the storage.
You said in the past that there could be some opportunities in the storage that could arrive in this month. Now the government has changed, sorry, left, fortunately. What could happen on this topic? Could we still expect some novelties or everything will be postponed for this reason? The last thing regarding still renewable. The minister said that the authorization increased by 9 GW. You just said that there are 180,000 requests. Could you elaborate a bit? Another interesting thing is, according to the minister, to 2025, the renewables could offset around 9 BCM of gas consumption. This means a reduction of production, electricity production through this way. What is your visibility on this part, on this topic?
Do you see this acceleration? In particular, I'm interested to see what are the main players that are now asking the authorization. Are still small entrepreneurs, or are there some big players that are now asking the authorization that could drive this change in the trend of new renewables? Many thanks.
Yes. Let me start with the first question on interest rates rise impact, potential impact on Terna cost of debt. Well, let me remind you that the rise of interest rates will not be translated in immediate impact on our overall cost of debt, given that the duration of our debt is around five years. In addition to that, you know that the percentage of debt represented by fixed rate liabilities is more than 80%, to be precise, 86%. Most of these instances will not be affected by any interest rate hike. On top of that, Terna implemented a proactive funding strategy in a context in which we executed already in 2021, but also in 2022, the pre-financing of the most relevant part of our funding needs.
You have seen what we have decided to do also in the recent months, and at the beginning of February, we also issued hybrid instruments that provide us a more than, let me say, sufficient flexibility not to be concerned for the evolution of interest rates in the mid-short term. On top of that, you know that the regulatory formula that we apply includes also a correction related to the evolution of interest rates. We have not yet at the degree that the trigger set from the authority for an anticipated review of the remuneration, but in any case, we do expect that starting from the first of January 2024, this interest rate increase will be recovered in the tariff.
We don't have any pressure. We do continue to operate on the financial market, looking at it more as an opportunity, not as an obligation. We have something not far from EUR 2 billion available cash at the end of June, so we have huge flexibility for the coming months. You ask something about the storage and the possible position in the near future, coming from authorities and institutions, also government position. I think that on the storage we have to consider that in the national plan is provided a number that is between 6 GW and 10 GW of storage totally for our country, and they are absolutely necessary.
The discussion that we had during the last months and also some proposal for new law and new decisions has to go on and to be defined. I think that in any case, our electricity system and energy system needs to reach some appropriate dimensions on this topic. I don't know when it will start again and the discussions at the government, but I think we will push a lot in any case to continue in this direction. Regarding renewables and who are the main actors, I think that at the moment we can register a great number of requests, but in any case they are of a certain dimension.
Not so little dimension, but more in the direction of utility dimension or similar. Funds and private, and utilities. The general strategy regarding the energy transition process, I think it will not change. Maybe also it will accelerate. It's absolutely important to guarantee the substitution of a certain part of the gas resources with renewable installation. The possibility are all on the table. Requests are more than enough. The authorization process is in any case accelerated in front of the past condition and in comparison with the last years. I think this kind of strategy will be continued.
Many thanks.
There are currently no questions in the queue. As a reminder, please press star one if you would like to ask a question. The next question comes from the line of Stefano Gamberini from Equita. Please go ahead.
Yes. Considering there are no other questions, just a clarification and an update regarding the procurement situation. You see a worsening in the procurement for your investments or you can give us an update of the already procured investment you have for this year and eventually also for next year. Thanks.
I'd consider that at the moment we are near to the 86% of coverage for our plan. In terms of procurement. We don't see any particular difficulty coming from this situation at the moment. I think in for us no problem on this.
Thank you again.
There are no further questions in the queue, so I will hand the call back to your host for some closing remarks.
Okay. Thank you to everybody for your attention, and kind regards.
Thank you for joining today's call. You may now disconnect your lines.