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Article 37 of loi No 2003-8, du 3 janvier 2003, relative aux marchés du gaz et de l’électricité et au service public de l’énergie (Law No 2003-8 of 3 January 2003 on gas and electricity markets and the public energy service) (JORF of 4 January 2003, p. 265), which amended Law No 2000-108, provided: ‘I. — Paragraph I of Article 5 of Law No 2000-108 … is worded as follows: “I. — Costs attributable to the public service tasks assigned to electricity operators shall be offset in full. They comprise: (a) With regard to the generation of electricity: 1. Additional costs, if any, resulting from the implementation of Articles 8 and 10, compared with the investment and operational costs that Électricité de France is spared or, where relevant, with the costs spared by the affected non-nationalised distributors referred to in Article 23 of loi No 46-628 du 8 avril 1946 [sur la nationalisation de l’électricité et du gaz (Law No 46-628 of 8 April 1946 on the nationalisation of electricity and gas)]. The same values for costs spared shall serve as the reference for determining the additional costs to be offset where the installations concerned are operated by Électricité de France or by a non-nationalised distributor. Where the contracts concern the purchase of electricity generated by a production installation located in an area that is not connected to the continental metropolitan network, the additional costs shall be calculated by reference to the amount relative to production at the tariffs for the sale of electricity to non-eligible customers; 2. Additional production costs in areas not connected to the continental metropolitan network which, on account of particular features of the generation system inherent in the nature of those areas, are not covered by the amount relative to production at the tariffs for the sale of electricity to non-eligible customers or by any price caps laid down in paragraph I of Article 4 of this law; (b) With regard to the supply of electricity: 1. Lost revenue and costs borne by electricity suppliers as a result of the implementation of the special pricing structure for “basic necessity” products as referred to in the last subparagraph of Article 4(I); 2. Costs borne by electricity suppliers as a result of their participation in the special arrangements for low-income persons, as referred to in Article 2(III)(1). Account shall be taken of such costs up to a determined percentage of the costs borne by the supplier pursuant to the special pricing structure for “basic necessity” products mentioned in the previous paragraph. That percentage shall be determined by the ministre chargé de l’énergie [(Minister for Energy)]. Those costs shall be calculated on the basis of appropriate accounting records kept by the operators by whom they are borne. Those accounting records, drawn up in accordance with rules laid down by the Energy Regulatory Authority, shall be audited at the abovementioned operators’ expense by their auditor or, in the case of local public utility providers, by their public accountant. The Energy Regulatory Authority may, at the operator’s expense, have those accounting records verified by an independent body of its choosing. The Minister for Energy shall determine by order the total costs on a proposal from the Energy Regulatory Authority made annually. The offsetting of those costs, in favour of the operators bearing them, shall be secured through charges payable by final consumers of electricity located in the national territory. The amount of the charges referred to above shall be calculated in proportion to the quantity of electricity consumed. However, the electricity produced by a producer for its own use or purchased by a final consumer for his own use from a third party operating a production installation on the consumption site shall be taken into account for the purposes of calculating the charges only from a threshold of 240 million kilowatt hours per year and per production site. The amount of the charge payable per consumption site, by the final consumers referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 22(I) may not exceed [EUR] 500000. The amount of the charge applicable to each kilowatt hour shall be calculated in such a way that the charges cover the entirety of the costs referred to in (a) and (b) above and the management costs incurred by the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, referred to below. The Minister for Energy shall determine that amount by order on a proposal from the Energy Regulatory Authority, made annually. The charge applicable to each kilowatt hour may not exceed 7% of the sale tariff of the kilowatt hour, exclusive of standing charges and taxes, corresponding to a contract for a capacity of 6 kVA without curtailment or hourly/seasonal variation of prices. …’