Hi . Preliminary Financial Statements for 2022. Usual thing here . Dan Niculaie Faranga. He's going to deliver the presentation for you. We can go straight to questions and answers. I have to kindly ask you to keep your microphones off unless you have a question to ask. Thank you very much for your understanding and cooperation. Dan, sorry to interrupt you.
Valentina, sorry, we cannot hear anything. We cannot hear Dan.
Can you hear us now?
Nope. I mean, I can hear you, just you.
Okay.
Okay. Now we hear you.
Okay. I'll start again. Thank you very much for joining this presentation. I'm going to present the preliminary unaudited individual financial statements. We're not discussing about audited or consolidated. We're discussing about unaudited and individual financial statements as of 31st of December 2022. Exceptional year, 2022. A lot of changes, a lot of challenges. However, from a purely financial perspective, it was a very, very good year, I think one of the best ever. As you see in the first slide, we produced and sold roughly the same quantity of energy. However, the revenue was double. The operating expenses were higher than last year, but there is a good reason for this. Therefore, the net profit is RON 2.7 billion as opposed to RON 1 billion in 2021.
In terms of the performance of in the last quarter, it was also a very good quarter. The net profit was double as compared to 2021. In terms of the overall these preliminary results compared to the budget, the results were higher than the budget with about RON 500 million, which is 21%, mainly because we've we managed to keep the costs under control. The next slide. This is this very nice colored slide show the elements which impacted the financial results. As you can see, the biggest driver of our profitability was increasing the sales of electricity, the last green bar.
We have the largest increase in costs was this windfall tax, the red bar in the middle. There are a lot of plus and minuses, but overall, these are the main drivers. The next slide is a summary of our balance sheet position. Basically our balance sheet, total equity and liabilities increased from RON 9.6 billion to RON 11.8 billion. The largest increase was driven by the increase in the profit from the last previous period. However, there were some small changes in fixed assets, so it was more decreased by 1%.
We have the current assets basically, with focus on cash and cash equivalents increased by RON 1.8 billion. Long-term debts, we are slowly paying all of our debts. In 2024, we'll have the last debt payable to Euratom. Current liabilities, maybe the largest increase because of this solidarity contribution, the windfall tax. We have to pay it by 25th of each month, which means that we have a current liability, but everything is paid in time, no delays. As mentioned, the equity increased because of the profit in the previous period. The next slide will present more detailed. More details for Profit and Loss statement, Income statement. You've seen the main headlines in terms of sales of electricity and total revenue.
I'm not going to discuss them in detail. However, I will present a little bit some variations on the OpEx. One of the main elements in our P&L, of course, is the personal expenses. We have an increase of 27.2% for the personal expenses. There is also an increase, significant, in cost of physical electricity for obvious reasons, which will be detailed in a later slide. Repairs and maintenance, roughly the same. Of course, the largest impact in terms of operating expenses, the contribution to the Energy Transition Fund. It was renamed several times in 2022. We have a difference of about RON 1 billion as compared to 2021. In terms of other operating expenses, roughly equal.
For this reason, the EBITDA is higher. It's RON 3.5 billion as compared to RON 1.7 billion. It roughly double. Of course this drives the net profit. We manage, in addition with increasing revenues, we manage to extract value from our deposits. For this reason, we have a net finance income which is higher than last year. In terms of comparison with the budget, the revenues is roughly the same. Operating expense is a little bit higher, with the reason being operating, other operating expenses. Overall, the EBITDA realized, so basically this interim, unaudited EBITDA is better than the one that we envisaged in the budget.
For this reason, in 2022, we managed to generate this RON 2.7 billion profit as opposed to the RON 2.2 budgeted net profit. In this slide we are presenting the reasons why we managed to extract more revenues from the sale of electricity in 2022 compared to 2021. The reason is the fact that basically we were able to sell more on a competitive market price. We managed to sell more on the spot market, so basically everything was sold at a higher weighted average selling price and including the gas in the market. On the next slide is a very, very detailed sales mix analysis.
You will see that the quantity was basically similar. The competitive market quantities, the quantity sold on the competitive market represented almost 90% of the total volume of electricity, which is a little bit higher than last year. The average selling price was 529 lei/MWh without T&G, which is almost double from the one last year. The quantity sold on the spot market represents 10.5% of the total sales volume, which is a little bit lower than last year. The price that we managed to sell this on the this quantity on the spot market was considerably higher.
I think 2.5 or two, almost twice, so even more than twice, the price achieved last year, 2021. In terms of actual versus budgeted, in the lower half of the presentation, you'll see a table presenting in details what happened. I'm not going to run through this. You have all the information. Now, going further to a little bit of explanation on the OpEx side. As mentioned in the last slide, we had this big impact on our P&L with the windfall tax, maybe the largest or not the largest cost. It's at RON 1 billion. This RON 1 billion additional cost is a result of the legislation that was being brought in 2022 in various shapes and forms.
In terms of depreciation and amortization, a little bit of increase, as a result of a revaluation of the port. Personnel expenses, we have increased the number of employees. We are gearing up for investments, so the number of employees increased and that's what it drove an increase in the personnel cost. Cost of uranium fuel, slightly the same. The decommissioning obligations, no notable variation. Water, energy for our increased a little bit, almost 9% because of the increase in the price of the utilities. Cost of credit electricity, you can imagine that it mimics the evolution of the overall increase in price of energy on the market. For this reason, we have an increase of 100%. Basically doubled.
This is explained in the following paragraphs with details about the fact that the quantity that was purchased was more, the average price for the purchase of such quantities was higher, larger prices. We had an increase in expenses with imbalances. That drove a RON 53 million increase in costs. Leakage transmission expenses. Of course, the transmission tariff mimicked the evolution of the energy on the overall market. The cost fixed per part replacement maintenance was a little bit higher. Not something significant. One or some %. Okay. In terms of CapEx, we managed to invest RON 0.5 billion. In fact, RON 561 million, which was a total investment program of RON 609 million.
Of course, we have achieved the 60% target. We are very, very comfortable. In terms of a comparison between the budget and the degree of completion, you have the data in front of you. Basically, the RON 609 million that was budgeted, speaking on three categories, ongoing investments RON 409 million, investment made on various tangible assets, another RON 100 million, and three months, roughly RON 100 million. Basically, we managed to have a very, very good degree of completion on according investment. Investments was made on tangible assets more than almost 90%, which drove on a balance 89.6% completion of the investment program. No, just sorry. My eyes looked at another. It's 92%.
Sorry for this. Okay. In terms of CapEx, Unit I refurbishment, we are now entering into the second phase of the project, and we're working to find financial resources for the implementation of the project. We're working on the contractual architecture, finding the right partners to achieve this refurbishment. We're working, of course, on regulatory approvals, authorization for the implementation of the project. With regards to Unit 3 and Unit 4 project, we are working to secure financing for the project. As you probably seen in the newspapers, we managed to obtain a commitment, a letter of interest from EXIM, which is the Export Credit Agency of United States of America, for a package of financing, which is roughly $3.05 billion.
Which is split between $50 million for pre-project technical service and engineering, and $3 billion for the rest of the program. In addition, another significant development, we are progressing with the draft for the issuance of the Support Agreement to be signed between Nuclearelectrica and the Romanian government for the development of the Unit III and Unit IV project. This Support Agreement will allow the project to be funded because it will stipulate the issuance of sovereign guarantee for the debt providers of the project and a lot of other support conditions. The draft law is progressing very well through the Senate.
We managed to get the approval of the Senate Commission on February 6th, and we are looking forward to get similar agreement from the Chamber of Deputies. In terms of the other project, the small modular reactor. A memorandum of understanding was signed between RoPower Nuclear S.A., which is the project company for the development of this small modular project, and Donalam, which is part of the Beltrame Group, a leader in steel production. We're trying to collaborate in order to explore opportunities for investment in support of the development of the first SMR project in Romania, which of course will advance the objectives of both parties. In addition, we are progressing with the engineering phase of the project.
The project company, RoPower Nuclear signed an engineering contract, the front engineering and design contract, with NuScale Power, LLC, which is the provider of the technology, which means that the project is progressing quickly. In the next slide, there is the traditional presentation of the radioactive emissions. As you can see, we are well below what is required from our side. Nuclear plant factor is very good. CANDU technology performance, you probably know that Unit I and Unit II are the one of the best in the world. Over 400 units worldwide. We are very proud of this. Basically, and, so to conclude this, I'm going to present a little bit the next events.
The next event will be on the 27th of April, for one of these published annual audited financial statements. There will be another conference call, 4:00 P.M., et cetera, and then there will be the first quarterly report on 12th of May. The same, 4:00 P.M., the publication of the first quarterly report. This is basically it for the next several months. This is about the presentation. If you have any queries, I will be glad to, happy to respond.
Hi. Good afternoon. This is Iuliana Pana. I have a number of questions more related to that energy, not necessarily to the past year. First, can you comment a bit how much you expect to sell on the centralized market? 'Cause it's not very clear from the regulations. I understand that it was supposed to be 80%, but then it might be even more than 80%. Can you comment a bit, provide some clarity here on these sales to the centralized market?
Yes, of course. The legislation imposes to sell on the regulated market 80% of whatever that was not sold in the previous year.
Mm-hmm.
Is that roughly not contracted?
Okay.
Which means that we are going to sell on the regulated market, basically on OPCOM at the regulated price, about 48% of all quantity.
That's maximum, 80%. I mean, it was supposed to be maximum 80% of the available volume. That 80 was maximum, right?
Okay.
The maximum.
Yeah, yeah. Basically, we have presented the regulator the available quantity. We signed a contract, as you probably know, in which we committed only each month to deliver 50% of the quantity at the regulated price. In each of it, a balance for the remainder of quantity. We sign additional act to the contract with the OPCOM each month.
You signed an initial contract with 50, and the rest is done monthly.
Yeah.
As a credit?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
I'm looking to the budget. I'm looking to the budget, the realized price. If I take the sales of power and I deduct the cost with the power acquisition and the windfall tax, the net realized price seems to be below 450 lei/MWh. Can you explain? I mean, did I do something wrong?
I think it's.
Can you just provide-
It's. Basically, we are selling about 48% of our quantity at RON 450. The rest of the quantity is going to be sold at less than RON 1,000, almost RON 1,000. Yes, there must be a misunderstanding somewhere.
No, no. I mean, of course, total revenue excluding the costs with the acquisition of power for balancing and the windfall tax. In principle-
No, I'm sorry.
It should average perfectly, right?
No. No.
On your numbers, it doesn't.
I think there is a misunderstanding on the methodology. You may be aware that in accordance with the latest format of the methodology, the expense is the, which is of course, it's the Law 357 on the end of December. In the computation of the windfall tax, the cost with the purchase of energy is not deductible in the computation. It is.
Starting in January, you are no longer allowed to deduct the cost with the acquisition of power?
Yeah. Yes.
Okay. Sorry. I didn't know that. Okay. That should, this should explain that. Can I ask more or is anyone wants to intervene?
Hey, this is Vlad Pintilie from BT Capital Partners. I also want to ask, like, a few questions. Are there any updates on the tender related to the acquisition of uranium with Cameco and Kazatomprom? My second question. Or I can ask it after, if that's okay.
It's ongoing.
Okay. Thank you. Just gonna ask one more question, and then I'm gonna let Julian ask one more, I guess, or a few, and then I'm gonna come back. Can you confirm if for the quantities of electricity sold, outside the centralized procurement system, you are still subject to the solidarity tax or not?
Yes, of course it is. We call it windfall tax because it's easier, because they change name all the time about. Basically 48% of the quantity is sold on the regulated market with a 450 lei/MWh, and the different 52% has been sold previously, and we have a higher price for this.
Thank you.
Yes, I did have more questions as to first on the salaries, because in the budget you include quite an increase in salaries. I think it was around 40% for 2023 compared with 2022. Should we expect that to materialize? It's not the first time when you budget significantly higher personal costs, but it doesn't happen. Should we take that for granted?
You're asking about.
The increase for granted?
You're discussing about the budget 2023?
Yeah. Yeah. Of course.
Right. Yes. You have to take it into account because it's driven by the increase in the number of personnel. The fact that a lot of employment has been made in the last year, which now has an impact on the full year 2023. We are incorporating some requirements that came from CNCAN in terms of, we call it NSN regulations. Of course, we are trading with the inflation in terms of increase of salary. For this reason, I think you have to take into account this increase in the overall personal cost.
Can you, sorry, can you explain on what you're doing? What has triggered the increase?
Basically last year we've employed a lot of people for our development. Of course, these colleagues who are employed in phases. Each month we employ the number of colleagues. The cost of bringing these colleagues on board is fully reflected in the full year of 2023 because in 2022 we only incurred.
Is it cost cut?
A small portion when they were employed. This is the driver. The second driver is the fact that we are allowed, in accordance with law, to increase the salaries of our personnel in accordance with the inflation. The third driver are various.
Okay.
One of the largest reason is request from CNCAN to in accordance with the NSN required.
Mm-hmm. Regarding, coming back to the previous question, actually, because it's not something to be neglected, because basically your costs with the acquisition of power were very high in 2022. Assuming they remain quite high, because I think they're budgeted to remain relatively high, because this is the power that you're buying during a shutdown. Planned or unplanned shutdown. The amounts can be quite high. The fact that you're not able to do that, then would significantly impact your results basically. Is there any way to reduce these volumes and are there negotiations with the government on this?
No.
To, to-
No. It's a reality. Of course, we will try to improve on that amount, the budgeted amount, but it will be conservative in our evaluation and our forecast.
No, I understand. I mean, I was more thinking whether it's possible to revise the law. I mean, I was just going to ask if there are any discussions with the government to revise this because Yeah, we're actually paying tax on something we're not even realizing.
We would be glad if such a changing law happen. We'll be more than satisfied.
Just one more. When do you expect to pay the contribution to EnergoNuclear, the EUR 185 million?
This is happening according needs to pay engineering services.
Will it, will that be due this year, next year? Do you have any idea on a timeline?
I have a gross estimation, but I will not jump to conclusions as of this date because I'm not really sure. The conversation with our partner is ongoing. We'll see what will be the result.
Okay. Thank you.
Welcome.
One, one more question from me, or maybe two. Regarding the support scheme for Unit III and IV, when should we expect it to be implemented? Is it by mid-year or maybe closer to the end of the year? My second question is, regards the capacity factor. Can you tell us precisely what was the overall capacity factor in the fourth quarter? Thanks.
Yeah. I will start with the Support Agreement. We do hope that by the end of March we'll have the law. We'll see what happens. Of course, the implementation will take some time before we need to sign the contract. Depending on the way in which that the project progresses, we'll start benefiting from the support arrangement. With regards to the capacity factor, just give me one second because I'm not sure if I have the figure. Roughly, my colleagues tell me that roughly in the last quarter of 2022 there was a 92% average capacity factor for both reactors blended.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Welcome.
Okay. If there are no more questions, thank you very much for joining us in. Thank you, Dan, for the presentation and all the information. I will make sure you can find both the presentation and the audio file on our website investor relations page. Thank you again. Have a great weekend, everyone. Bye.
Thank you. Bye.
Thank you. Bye.
Thank you. Have a good weekend.
Okay. Bye-bye.
Thank you. Bye-bye.