The CNMC develops the system to supervise the prices that new operators will pay to Adif and Renfe

The set 'reasonable profit' cannot be exceeded

MADRID, 2 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) has clarified how it will supervise the prices that companies, including new operators, will pay to infrastructure owners, mainly in the hands of Adif and Renfe, for the use of their services.

These include access to stations, freight terminals or workshops, which are essential for companies to be able to carry out their activities normally, both passenger and freight transport, according to a Competition communication.

The current law requires non-discriminatory access, transparency in the conditions of access and provision of services and the orientation of prices to the cost of provision plus a reasonable profit, in the case of basic services, and also in that of complementary and ancillary services, when there is only one possible provider.

In 2020, the CNMC already forced Renfe to lower the prices it charges the competition, considering that its rental rates for its maintenance workshops were much higher than the cost of capital, especially since many of the 20,000 assets with which account would already be amortized.

The new CNMC document thus clarifies the criteria for determining the costs attributable to services and provides certainty to the operators of railway service facilities.

The communication also develops the concept of reasonable profit, assimilating it to the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC), and develops a methodology for its calculation, consistent with the one used by the CNMC in other sectors under its supervision.

The operator of the facility is responsible for setting the rates based on their activity and cost forecasts. Therefore, the CNMC will conclude that the prices comply with the regulations if, according to the approved and audited accounts, the income obtained from the provision of the service does not exceed the costs plus a reasonable profit in the three previous years.

"The communication provides legal certainty to operators of service facilities, without imposing new obligations in addition to those already established by article 101 of the Law of the Railway Sector or excessive administrative burdens", concludes the regulator.