This includes provision for employee leaving indemnities and other contractual benefits, net of advances paid out and payments made to the social security institutions pursuant to current regulations. The calculation is made using actuarial techniques and discounting future liabilities to the balance sheet date. These liabilities consist of the credit, which the employees will accrue as of the date they will presumably leave the company.
The item "gas discount" represents annual indemnities provided to Federgasacqua employees, hired prior to January 1980, which may be transferred to their heirs. "Premungas" is a supplementary pension fund for employee members of Federgasacqua hired prior to January 1980. This fund was closed with effect from January 1997, and changes quarterly to settle payments made to eligible retirees. For both cases, recalculations have been made, using the same actuarial techniques applied for employee leaving indemnities.
The "tariff reduction provision" has been provided to cover the charges deriving from the acknowledgement to retired staff of tariff concessions for electricity consumption.
The table below shows the changes in the above provisions during the year.
| 31-dec-08 | Provisions | Uses and other Movements | Changes in scope of consolidation | 31-Dec-2009 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provisions | Financial charges | |||||
| Employee Leaving Indemnity Prov. | 96,905 | 403 | 2,706 | -7,959 | 503 | 92,558 |
| Gas Discount | 2,690 | 6 | 76 | -299 | 2,473 | |
| Premugas Fund | 2,788 | 174 | 112 | -488 | 2,586 | |
| Tariff Reduction Provision | 3,405 | 292 | 136 | -433 | 3,400 | |
| Total | 105,788 | 875 | 3,030 | -9,179 | 503 | 101,017 |
The item "changes in scope of consolidation" includes the value of employee leaving indemnity to 1 January 2009 of companies Acantho Spa and Satcom Spa, consolidated on a line-by-line basis, and of Ingenia Srl, deconsolidated.
The item "Uses and other movements" mainly includes the amounts paid to employees.
The main assumptions used in the actuarial estimate of the employee benefits are as follows:
| 31-Dec-09 | 31-Dec-08 | |
|---|---|---|
| Average discount rate | 4.52% | 4.68% |
| Average increase rate in labour costs | 3.50% | 3.50% |
