The ‘Dl Bollette’ bill is before the Council of Ministers today, with amendments regarding the cost of the gas price cap

The ‘Bollette’ decree is expected to be tabled before the Council of Ministers today, barring any last-minute changes, following the postponement decided last week. The Minister for the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, confirmed yesterday the intention to put the decree-law forward for approval at an event organised by Elettricità Futura, the association of electricity producers.

Addressing that very audience, the minister spoke of the need to ‘clarify the application of Article 6 of the energy bills decree, which has led to a very heated debate’ with producers and which has also resulted in ‘the postponement’ of the decree itself. The Forza Italia representative clarified that ‘it was necessary to refine any distortions arising from the measure’ and assured that he would assess ‘the discussions between the Ministry and Elettricità Futura’, suggesting that some of the observations put forward by electricity producers might be taken on board.

At the heart of the debate is the gas price cap mechanism, set at 58.9 euros per megawatt-hour: the price at which energy is sold to customers must take this price into account, whilst the difference compared with market prices is frozen. Energy producers are compensated for this gap through the passing on of costs, partly via system charges levied on customers with variable-price contracts (vulnerable groups and industries). The remaining portion, according to the version of the decree under negotiation, was to have been borne by the producers themselves. This approach, however, is unpopular with those directly affected, and MASE is reportedly keen to amend it by introducing a threshold, which would, in any case, be lower than the market price, compared to the level of costs passed on to producers, so as to recover from them only any difference between the price cap (58.9 euros per MWh) and this threshold, the value of which has not yet been finalised.

Whether a compromise can be reached – one that is acceptable to producers – will only become clear today following its approval by the Council of Ministers. The cap on gas prices is a measure that penalises producers but benefits energy-intensive businesses. The clash between the two sides is reflected in the debate within Confindustria. ‘We are astonished that Orsini is adding fuel to the fire on a day meant for dialogue. If he wants dialogue, we are ready; if, on the other hand, he prefers to start fires, we will not stand idly by,’ was the response from the president of Elettricità Futura, Salvatore Pinto, to the comments made by Confindustria’s head, Emanuele Orsini, on the subject of hydroelectric power (see separate report on this page).

Also yesterday, Pinto listed all the measures in the budget that penalise the sector. “It has been a troubled year,” he said, “beginning with the ‘Bollette’ decree, under which the sector contributed several billion euros. Now further measures are being announced which, once again, penalise us. Within the space of a few weeks, the electricity sector has seen one measure after another landed upon it. A new IRAP tax amounting to hundreds of millions, whilst in Italia our companies are reporting quarterly results showing a significant decline, with margins already in line with or lower than those of our European competitors. A cap on gas prices – the so-called Italian ‘Tope’ – which, as it has emerged, would impose costs on producers that no one can calculate and would hit precisely those who have opted for fixed-price contracts, the solution that is protecting households and businesses from price rises. ‘We hope for a round-table discussion on the Energy Bills Decree, to achieve the objectives set by the government without causing harm to anyone.’ Pinto then referred to the ARERA consultation following the government’s decision to extend the end of the phased protection measures. ‘An extension that changes the rules of tenders that have already been concluded,’ he said, and which penalises fixed-price contracts. All these measures ‘amount to 6–7 billion euros: a bit too much for a single sector in a single year’.