‘Utility Bills Decree II’: Council of Ministers gives the go-ahead for a cap on gas prices
After two postponements, the green light has been given to the measure establishing a price cap on the gas costs incurred by thermal power generation. Pichetto Fratin: “A first concrete step in support of the national economy”
Key points
The Council of Ministers has given the go-ahead to the ‘Bollette bis’ decree, which provides for the introduction of a cap on the price of gas used for thermoelectric generation (58.9 euros per MWh), modelled on the Spanish system. As explained in a statement from the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Sustainability (MASE), this involves a temporary reduction in the cost of electricity for households and businesses, achieved through a mechanism that reimburses a portion of the costs of natural gas used for thermoelectric generation. This is the aim of the new measure in the ‘Bollette’ Decree-Law, approved today by the Council of Ministers, which was drawn up in consultation with the European Commission and is designed to limit the impact of gas prices on the cost of electricity.
Pichetto Fratin: a first concrete step in support of our national economy
“With the decree-law approved today by the Council of Ministers, we are completing the process of the ‘DL Bollette’, with the aim of reducing the cost of electricity for households and businesses. From January onwards, taken as a whole, the measures in the decree will enable an average reduction of around 15 euros per megawatt-hour. This is a first concrete step in support of our national economy, consumers and the manufacturing sector,” commented Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, Minister for the Environment and Energy Security.
The Minister: work carried out in collaboration with ARERA and GME
The measure, the minister explains, “is the result of a comprehensive process and lengthy dialogue with the European Commission, carried out in institutional collaboration with ARERA, for matters within its remit, and with GME (Energy Markets Operator), which provided technical support in defining the mechanism and carrying out the simulations requested by the European Commission. This work was undertaken in full awareness of the difficulties that households and businesses are facing, against an international backdrop marked by significant geopolitical tensions and their impact on energy costs’.
