Castor's underground gas storage continues to cause movements, not so much seismic as legal. The contentious chamber of the National Court has just sentenced Escal UGS, a subsidiary of ACS, to return to the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) 209.7 million euros for the gas system settlements received between 2014 and 2017.
The court understands that the CNMC is entitled to claim the payments that it paid monthly to the company as "financial remuneration" and "net value of the investment", as stated in a ruling of July 5, reported by Eldiario.es and to which La Vanguardia has had access.
After the earthquakes in the waters of Castellón in 2013 caused by the filling of gas from the Castor underground storage, several kilometers away from the coast, the Government decided to hibernate the facility and approve royal decree law 13/2014, in which compensation was collected from the company of 1,350 million euros because the contract with the Ministry of Industry in 2011 contemplated the financial responsibility of the State in the event of failure of the project.
The compensation included in the royal decree law of 2014 was paid in a single payment to Escal UGS through an operation in which gas consumers ended up assuming, among the regulated costs of their receipt, a 30-year debt with interest of 4, 2%. The amount was assumed by Enagás, which then securitized the debt between several banks, which are the ones to which consumers owed the money.
The rule also included Escal's right to receive compensation of more than 200 million for the financial, maintenance and operation costs borne by the company between the provisional commissioning act and the date of entry into force of the royal decree law. Most of this amount, which is what was in dispute at the Court, was calculated in 2015 and was paid by the CNMC in final settlements for the years 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 of the gas system.
However, in 2017 the royal decree law of 2014 was declared partially unconstitutional due to the payment mechanism used, which has opened different legal fronts, including that of the banks themselves, which feared that they would stop receiving the money they had lent and they are owed. Your right to receive the money was already recognized by the Supreme Court in 2020.
Another consequence of the ruling on the partial unconstitutionality of the compensation has to do with the now known decision of the Court. In July 2019, the CNMC demanded that the ACS subsidiary return the amount of the settlements for regulated activities carried out during previous years.
From their point of view, "the declaration of unconstitutionality determines the annulment of the financial remuneration recognized to Escal in the final settlement for the 2014 financial year and, consequently, also that recognized in successive settlements."
The company responded by challenging the resolution of the regulatory body and doubting, among other things, the capacity of the CNMC to make an ex officio demand of this type, an aspect that the Court rejects in its ruling, considering that the regulator does have powers in this regard.
