Confindustria was interviewed by ARERA as part of a series of meetings organised by the Authority’s new Board with stakeholders from the energy and environment sectors, ahead of the Definition of the Strategic Framework 2026–2029.

During the meeting, Confindustria highlighted the the need for regulation capable of supporting energy security, decarbonisation and industrial competitiveness, whilst reducing the cost differentials that put Italian businesses at a disadvantage compared with their main European competitors.

In particular, Confindustria has highlighted the need to:

• to implement the measures set out in the 2026 Energy Bills Decree without delay, so that they have a tangible impact on businesses’ energy costs;
• to reduce the PSV-TTF spread and gas charges, whilst maximising the value of the liquidity service and the sale of gas in storage;
• to strengthen the competitiveness of wholesale electricity markets, whilst preventing behaviour that limits the full impact of renewables on prices;
• to overcome the virtual saturation of the grids, freeing up capacity for renewable energy projects that can actually be implemented;
• to promote biomethane and CCUS as drivers of decarbonisation for hard-to-abate industrial sectors;
• to renew and strengthen gas interruptibility and industrial demand-side flexibility measures;
• to bring the remuneration for services provided by industrial consumers to the electricity system into line with the system;
• to ensure greater fairness between gas customers connected to the transmission network and industrial customers served by distribution networks.

Confindustria also emphasised the importance of supporting the evolution of the electricity market – from moving beyond the PUN to negative zonal prices – in a gradual and transparent manner, with appropriate regulatory safeguards, to ensure that the energy transition is sustainable from an industrial perspective as well.