The government is moving forward with the Bill Decree, no substantial changes

No backtracking by the government on the Bill bis Decree, which wants to reduce electricity tariffs by placing a ceiling on the price of gas. The measure will go to the Council of Ministers on Monday, without substantial changes. Last Thursday's postponement was due to a formal state accounting problem. The Ministry of Economy has started a discussion with the European Union to clarify the issue.

Confcommercio calculates that the Decree will be able to reduce businesses' electricity bills by up to 10%, even if electricity spending in the third quarter of 2026 increased for bars by 133%, for hotels by 68% and for large surfaces by 67%. But the climate think tank Ecco makes different calculations. In his opinion, the savings will be just 1.4 euros per month.

On Thursday, the approval in the Council of Ministers of the new text of the Bills decree was undermined by the findings of the State Accounting Office on a secondary regulation: article 9, which provides that the proceeds from the sale in 2026 of the gas stored in 2022, during the energy crisis, will be used by Arera (the public energy agency) to reduce the gas bills of energy-intensive companies in 2027.

The Accounting Office objected that in this way there would be an income for the State in 2026 and an exit in 2027, with a misalignment of public finances. On this aspect, the government stopped the approval of the measure, which the Minister of Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, had already illustrated in the Council of Ministers.

The Ministry of Economy has started a discussion with the European Union, always very attentive to Italian accounts, to clarify the issue and find a solution. However, this is a technical accounting problem, not coverage or state aid.

There are no problems regarding the key measure of the Decree, i.e. the ceiling on the price of gas for electricity production, provided for in Article 6. The 'tope' on the Iberian model, already agreed with the European Commission, will return to the Council of Ministers without modifications, the Ministry of Energy Security clarified.

There is talk of a ceiling of 58.9 euros per megawatt hour, which would reduce the wholesale price of electricity, which in Italy is linked to that of gas, and therefore the final rate on the bill. The difference between the price cap and the market price of gas would be reimbursed to producers with a charge placed on consumers' electricity bills, who in any case would ultimately save.