Cost-efficiency - Slovenia

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PRB monitoring

▪ The en route 2023 actual unit cost of Slovenia was 50.36 €2017, -16% lower than the determined unit cost (59.84 €2017). Slovenia does not have a terminal charging zone.

▪ The en route 2023 actual service units (0.7M) were +19% higher than the determined service units (0.6M).

▪ The en route 2023 actual total costs were -52 K€2017 (-0.2%) lower than determined. This gap is attributed to the underspend in depreciation costs (-0.6 M€2017, or -18%) and in other operating costs (-0.1 M€2017, or -2.3%). According to the NSA, the difference in depreciation resulted from postponed investments, while the gap in other operating costs was due to the nominal overspend (+8.2%) being less than the overspend of the inflation index (+15%).

▪ Slovenia Control spent 3.9 M€2017 in 2023 related to costs of investments, -19% less than determined (4.7 M€2017), due to delayed investments.

▪ The en route actual unit cost incurred by users in 2023 was 60.73€ (-4.3% below the 2023 DUC).

En route charging zone

Unit cost (KPI#1)

Actual and determined data
Total costs - nominal (M€) 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Actual costs 61 35 41 NA
Determined costs 63 35 36 37
Difference costs -2 0 4 NA
Inflation assumptions 2020-2021 2022 2023 2024
Determined inflation rate NA 1.5% 1.6% 1.8%
Determined inflation index NA 106 107.8 109.7
Actual inflation rate NA 9.3% 7.2% NA
Actual inflation index NA 115.5 123.9 NA
Difference inflation index (p.p.) NA +9.5 +16.1 NA

AUC vs. DUC

In 2023, the en route AUC was -15.8% (or -9.47 €2017) lower than the planned DUC. This results from the combination of significantly higher than planned TSUs (+18.6%) and slightly lower than planned en route costs in real terms (-0.2%, or -0.1 M€2017). It should be noted that actual inflation index in 2023 was +16.1 p.p. higher than planned.

En route service units

The difference between the 2023 actual and planned TSUs (+18.6%) falls outside the ±10% threshold foreseen in the traffic risk sharing mechanism. The resulting gain of additional en route revenues is therefore shared between the ANSP and the airspace users.

En route costs by entity

The 2023 actual real en route costs are -0.2% (-0.1 M€2017) lower than planned. This is the result of lower than planned costs for the NSA/EUROCONTROL (-8.8%, or -0.2 M€2017) and higher than planned costs for the main ANSP, Slovenia Control (+0.2%, or +0.1 M€2017) and the MET service provider (+8.7%, or +0.1 M€2017).

En route costs for the main ANSP at charging zone level

Slightly higher than planned en route costs in real terms for Slovenia Control in 2023 (+0.2%, or +0.1 M€2017) result from:
- Higher than planned staff costs (+3.9% or +19.4% in nominal terms) reported to be due to due to “new collective agreement being signed and inflation adjusted, half of the increase not linked to actual increase of staff salaries but linked to actuarial calculations resulting from new agreement”,
- Lower than planned other operating costs (-2.9%), but higher in nominal terms (+11.7%), reported to be mainly due to “significantly higher inflation than planned”,
- Significantly lower than planned depreciation (-17.6%), reported to be mainly due to “delayed investments”,
- Lower than planned cost of capital (-3.8%), mainly due to lower fixed assets.

Actual unit cost incurred by the users (AUCU) (PI#1)

AUCU components (€/SU) – 2023
Components of the AUCU in 2023 €/SU
DUC 63.47
Inflation adjustment 6.37
Cost exempt from cost-sharing -1.66
Traffic risk sharing adjustment -6.75
Traffic adj. (costs not TRS) -1.13
Finantial incentives 0.45
Modulation of charges 0.00
Cross-financing 0.00
Other revenues 0.00
Application of lower unit rate 0.00
Total adjustments -2.72
AUCU 60.76
AUCU vs. DUC -4.3%
Cost exempt from cost sharing by item - 2023 €'000 €/SU
New and existing investments -919.6 -1.36
Competent authorities and qualified entities costs -222.1 -0.33
Eurocontrol costs 17.3 0.03
Pension costs 0.0 0.00
Interest on loans 0.0 0.00
Changes in law 0.0 0.00
Total cost exempt from cost risk sharing -1,124.3 -1.66

The actual en route unit cost incurred by airspace users (AUCU) in respect of activities performed in 2023 (60.71 €) is -4.4% lower than the nominal DUC (63.47 €). The difference between these two figures (-2.76 €/SU) is due to:
- the positive inflation adjustment resulting from higher than planned inflation (+6.37 €/SU);
- the impact of adjustments resulting from the costs exempted from cost-sharing mechanism (-1.70 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic risk sharing adjustments (-6.75 €/SU);
- the deduction of the traffic adjustment (-1.13 €/SU) for the costs not subject to traffic risk sharing; and
- financial incentives (+0.45 €/SU).
The share of the regulatory result (see items 10 to 14) in the AUCU (before the deduction of other revenues) is 3.4%.

Regulatory result (RR)

Slovenia Control net gain on activity in the Slovenia en route charging zone in the year 2023

Slovenia Control reported a net gain of +0.6 M€, as a combination of a loss of -1.1 M€ arising from the cost sharing mechanism, with a gain of +1.4 M€ arising from the traffic risk sharing mechanism and a gain of +0.3 M€ relating to financial incentives.

Slovenia Control overall regulatory results (RR) for the en route activity

Ex-post, the overall RR taking into account the net gain from the en route activity mentioned above (+0.6 M€) and the actual RoE (+1.0 M€) amounts to +1.6 M€ (4.2% of the en route revenues). The resulting ex-post rate of return on equity is 16.8%, which is higher than the 10.4% planned in the PP.