The Italian government has passed a new decree law to contain electricity and natural gas prices for companies and households, including financial aid and new measures to boost energy production.
The decree is worth €8bn, of which €5.5bn will be used to tackle expensive bills, replicating the €3.5bn package in September and the one in January. It eliminates general system charges for domestic consumers with capacity equal to or greater than 16.5kW, including users of public recharging stations for electric vehicles.
The package reduces by 5pc the VAT and general charges for gas consumption. It also extends the existing partial compensation mechanism for energy-intensive companies and grants an extraordinary tax credit of €500mn to be distributed among nearly 1,000 gas-intensive companies. "Electricity and gas bills for businesses increased by about €21bn year on year across the fourth quarter. We expect to reduce this margin to nearly €14-15bn for the next quarter," economy and finance minister Daniele Franco said.
The additional funds will be used to spur domestic energy production. The decree encompasses an acceleration plan for renewable energy, introducing a single simplified authorisation procedure for solar photovoltaic modules installed on roofs and agricultural areas with a capacity of up to 200kW and a new simplified procedure for geothermal projects below 2MW of capacity.
The government also passed measures to combat fraudulent operations during the transfer of bonuses for renewable development. These credits can now be assigned a maximum of three times and only in favour of banks, insurance companies and financial intermediaries. The transfers cannot be subject to partial assignments after the first communication of the option to the revenue agency.
Regarding natural gas, the decree targets to increase natural gas production to 5bn m³ from the current 3.2bn m³ by enhancing production from the Sicilian Canal and the Marche region — the extra production will be distributed to gas-intensive consumers at favourable prices. The package established mandatory fulfilment of Italian natural gas storage to at least 90pc of the total capacity at the start of each year, while it boosts the production of synthetic and biofuels, environment minister Roberto Cingolani said. By 2030, the EU's RED II will require a minimum target of 16pc of sustainable carburant.
The package also provides €1bn a year to promote carmakers' energy transition — including research, reconversion and requalification — until 2030 and financial support for heating and public illumination expenses in vulnerable regions.
Italian prime minister Mario Draghi assured that the government managed to refrain from distorting the state budget as a result of the positive financial results of the country in 2021.
