The New Energy Bills Decree: Latest Developments In The Energy Sector

Law Decree No. 21 of 20 February 2026, so called Energy Bills Decree, entered into force on 21 February 2026, following its publication in the Official Gazette on 20 February 2026.

The Decree must be converted into law, with possible amendments, within sixty days from its publication, otherwise, it will be retroactively forfeited.

The decree introduces significant regulatory measures in the electricity sector, impacting pricing mechanisms, the grid connection framework for renewable energy plants, and the gas sector, including biomethane. It also sets out rules for the regulation of data centres and CCUS facilities.

Conto Energia remodulation and ASOS reduction (Article 2)

The Decree introduces provisions allowing for the monetisation of residual incentives and encouraging the repowering of portfolios under the Conto Energia scheme, including through the simplification of authorisation procedures.

Owners of PV plants with an incentive power capacity exceeding 20 kW, who benefit from the fixed premium tariffs of the Conto Energia scheme (from the First to the Fourth Conto Energia), may:

1. by 31 May 2026, apply for a reduction of the incentive to 85% or 70% of the amount due for the period July 2026 - December 2027 (if the premium tariff expires on or after 1 January 2029). This will result in a 3- or 6-month extension of the agreement under the Conto Energia. During the extension period, the GSE will apply a tariff equal to the average of the reduced premium tariffs;
2. by September 30, 2026, apply to opt out of the incentive mechanisms starting from 1 January 2028, in order to receive 90% of the present value of the residual cash flows of the incentives due (rate ≤ 6%) in 10 annual instalments. This option is available to plants whose total capacity does not exceed 10 GW, with priority given to plants that have agreed to voluntary remodulation. If the voluntary remodulation does not exhaust the maximum limit of 10 GW, the remaining exit requests will be selected through an auction to be held by 30 June 2027. Applicants must submit a percentage discount on the discounted value of 90% of the residual cash flows of the incentives.

Conditions for accessing the exit procedure:

• complete refurbishment of the plants between 2028 and 2030, allowing for an increase in power capacity that guarantees at least double the residual production expected under the original incentive scheme (for ground-mounted plants in agricultural areas or rooftop plants, the refurbishment must guarantee an increase in productivity of at least 40% compared to the expected value during the residual incentive period).
• exclusive use of modules manufactured in the EU for the complete refurbishment of the plants;
• access to the new renewable energy support schemes only for incremental power capacity.
• energy attributable to pre-refurbishment power capacity must be negotiated under long-term PPAs or supported under new incentive schemes compliant with EU rules.

The complete refurbishment of ground-mounted PV plants located in industrial areas is now subject to the free building regime, provided that, following the refurbishment, the plant still falls entirely within the industrial area.

ARERA will define the procedures for recognising the benefits deriving from the above procedures in order to reduce the ASOS component of non-domestic electricity bills.

PPA: public guarantees, aggregation and 15% premium (Article 4)

The Energy Bill Decree provides (i) the possibility for GSE to become the guarantor of last resort in the context of PPAs and SACE involvement in the event of insufficient resources allocated by GSE for this purpose; (ii) the aggregation of demand; (iii) a 15% premium for certain plants.

1. The PPA bulletin board managed by the GME is being expanded with specific sections dedicated to demand for agreements with a minimum duration of three years, with the possibility of aggregation between companies by geographical area, consumption profile or product sector. On the supply side, the bulletin board promotes long-term electricity trading that does not benefit from incentives. Agreements will be negotiated and entered into outside the bulletin board but must be registered on the bulletin board. The parties may request the GSE to act as guarantor of last resort for these PPAs.

If the GSE's resources allocated to the guarantee of last resort are insufficient, SACE may issue additional guarantees of up to €250 million in 2026. For subsequent years, the amount will be set by the budget law.

Within 90 days of the entry into force of the Energy Bills Decree, MASE, on the proposal of GSE, must approve the applicative rules relating to the requirements that companies must meet in order to access the guarantor of last resort and the service membership agreement schemes.

1. Acquirente Unico S.p.A. ("Acquirente Unico") will perform, under the conditions and methods established by ARERA, electricity demand aggregation services aimed at promoting long-term contracting of electricity production from renewable sources by companies.
2. A premium equal to 15% of the positive difference between the annual average azonal spot prices and the price recognised under the aggregation service is granted to plants with a capacity exceeding 20 kW if: - they received incentives from the Conto Energia (from the 1st to the 4th), or Green Certificates (Ministerial Decree 2008), or the FER 2012 and FER 2016 Decrees; and - at the end of the incentive period, they are selected with priority in the PPA bulletin board as part of the aggregation service provided by Acquirente Unico.

These measures should reduce counterparty risk and the costs of contracting PPAs. The 15% premium is recognised as part of the general system charges (oneri di sistema) and provides a concrete economic incentive to participate in the aggregation service. Given that the incentive consists of public guarantees, a key issue concerns the compatibility of such provision with EU State aid rules.

Revision of the minimum guaranteed price system (Article 5)

ARERA shall be responsible of updating the mechanisms for determining the minimum guaranteed prices applicable to plants powered by biogas, biomass and sustainable bioliquids whose incentive schemes have expired, or to which operators have renounced in order to access the minimum guaranteed price system.

As part of the update, ARERA is required to adopt criteria aimed at gradually reducing guaranteed minimum prices.

Reduction of natural gas charges and strengthening of competition in wholesale electricity markets (Article 6)

One of the most significant provisions of the Decree, with the potential to reshuffle electricity market price‑formation mechanisms, is Article 6.

On the one hand, it requires ARERA to adopt, within three months from the entry into force of the Decree, measures for the assessment of economic capacity retention conduct by wholesale market operators, with reference to sales offers submitted on the day-ahead market. The opportunity costs estimated at the time of the offer shall be the only legitimate justification for offering a price higher than the marginal cost.

ARERA may therefore challenge offers that exceed marginal cost if they are not supported by objective economic reasons.

On the other hand, ARERA shall define: (i) the method by which, starting from 1 January 2027, certain variable components of the natural gas transport tariff will be reimbursed to thermoelectric producers; (ii) reimbursement to thermoelectric producers – within the limits of the expected cost for an efficient combined cycle gas plant resulting from ETS emissions compliance – of the costs associated with the ETS system. The effectiveness of this provision is subject to approval by the European Commission as it could be considered State aid.

The loss of revenue resulting from these reimbursements will be covered by components applied to electricity withdrawals, according to procedures to be defined by ARERA.

ARERA will verify that the reimbursements are reflected in the sales offers of the beneficiary thermoelectric power plants. If this is not the case, the reimbursement obligations will be triggered, increased by possible penalties.

The rules of the Capacity Market will have to be adjusted to ensure that the effects of the above provisions are fully reflected in the market offers made by thermoelectric plants.

In the Italian wholesale electricity market, prices are determined through a marginal pricing mechanism: often a gas-powered plant sets the price for all producers. Gas-powered generation incorporates ETS costs into its variable costs. Therefore, when CO₂ quota prices rise, the wholesale price of electricity rises for all technologies, including plants that do not emit CO₂. The provision aims to reduce price levels by reimbursing tariff components and ETS‑related costs to thermoelectric producers.

New grid connection procedures (Article 7)

New connection procedures

The main impact of the Decree on grid connections is the overcoming of the queue‑based criterion, under which connection requests were processed in chronological order, without any limit on the number of applications that could be submitted. This approach had led, in several portions of the electricity grid, to overlapping requests, resulting in structural delays both in the processing of applications and in the subsequent building of grid connections

For this purpose, the provision introduces a new Article 10-bis into the RES Consolidated Law, concerning new procedures for connecting renewable energy plants and storage systems to the electricity grid.

Within 180 days of the entry into force of the Energy Bills Decree, ARERA shall (i) update the connection procedures for renewable energy plants (with the exception of offshore plants), and BESS to the grid, and (ii) establish that Terna and distribution system operators shall issue connection estimates through transparent and non-discriminatory procedures.

Terna must disclose the maximum capacity that can be integrated into a given section of the electricity grid, allowing operators to assess the actual possibility of connection ex ante and ensuring more efficient use of available capacity.

As of the date of publication of the ARERA measures, connection estimates relating to unauthorised projects, already issued but not yet validated by the national transmission system operator, become ineffective. In any case, the grid operator will only definitively allocate grid capacity to authorised projects.

The loss of effectiveness of connection estimates does not automatically result in the rejection or archiving of authorisation procedures already started on the basis of connection estimates that have become ineffective. The terms of the relevant procedures – including those for environmental assessment – are suspended and will resume from the date of submission by the applicant of the new connection estimate obtained in accordance with the updated procedures.

Authorisation procedures relating to the national transmission grid upgrading and development works

New interventions to upgrade and develop the national transmission grid for the purpose of integrating renewable energy plants and storage systems are authorised, upon request by Terna, through the single authorisation procedure referred to in Article 1-sexies, paragraphs 1 to 4-bis.2, of Decree Law No. 239/2003.

The following interventions are subject to the declaration of commencement of activity (DIA), upon request by Terna:

1. the upgrading or expansion of existing electrical substations;
2. the construction of new electrical substations on disused industrial areas or sites, even if only partially;
3. the construction of connections (raccordi) to the national transmission grid not exceeding three kilometres in length, if overhead, or twelve kilometres, if underground;
4. the upgrading and expansion of existing power lines, built on the same route or diverging from it by a maximum of sixty linear metres and not involving a change in the useful height of the supports of more than thirty per cent of the same.

The application of the DIA regime is subject to the availability of the relevant areas by Terna and the absence of constraints under the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code, or environmental, geological or hydrogeological constraints.

Data center permitting procedure (Article 8)

In order to overcome regulatory fragmentation relating to data centres, a single authorisation procedure is introduced for the construction or expansion of data centers and their related grid connection works will be authorized by means of a single procedure, to be submitted to the authority in charge of issuing the Integrated Environmental Authorization (AIA).

The procedure shall not exceed ten months, with reduced timelines for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and may be extended only in exceptional cases and for no more than three months. The authorization is issued through a steering committee involving all competent public authorities, including those responsible for the protection of the environment, landscape, cultural heritage, health and public safety.

Reduction of Gas Bills for Businesses and Measures on Wholesale Gas Markets (Articles 9 and 10)

GSE is required to sell the gas stored pursuant to Article 5‑bis of Decree‑Law No. 50/2022 (i.e., the volumes injected for the purposes of the so‑called 'last‑resort filling'), as well as to pay the revenue obtained to the Energy and Environmental Services Fund (CSEA), net of the resources necessary for the operation of the liquidity service.

Based on the resources collected, ARERA will define a strategy to reduce the charges and tariff components related to gas transport and distribution system applied to end customers directly linked to the transmission network.

A new "liquidity service" for the wholesale gas market is introduced. This system is managed through contracts between Snam and operators selected via competitive procedures. Operators are required to offer gas on daily markets at prices linked to the TTF (Title Transfer Facility), receiving a premium to offset price‑volatility risks.

The goal is to bring the PSV (punto di scambio virtuale) price as close as possible to the TTF. Any extra revenues are used to reduce gas transport charges.

Business competitiveness and industrial decarbonization (Article 11)

Natural gas

The Decree introduces the possibility for co‑holders of existing or future natural gas production concessions to participate individually in long‑term natural gas procurement procedures.

It also establishes a single, comprehensive procedure - to be concluded within six months and encompassing all required environmental assessments - for the granting of new concessions, as well as for the extension or amendment of existing ones, where aimed at resuming or increasing natural gas production. The procedure also covers the authorisations for the works necessary to implement the related production programmes

Biomethane

Amendments to the so-called "Agriculture decree" provides that: (i) within contracts for the sale of self‑produced biomethane to hard to abate customer, cost items must be clearly and transparently detailed, avoiding the indirect transfer of the cost of guarantees of origin (garanzie d'origine) and allowing only a contract‑management fee to be charged (in addition to the remuneration for the gas supplied); (ii) biomethane incentivized under the Ministerial Decree of 15 September 2022 may be included in such contracts within the limit of 35% of the consumption of hard to abate customers. In addition, final customers are allowed to enter into such contracts on an aggregated basis.

CCUS

ARERA will define, within 120 days, a regulatory framework for the entire CCUS (carbon capture, transport, utilization and storage) chain. These are preliminary rules concerning access to the CO₂ transport network, the use of storage sites, and the accounting of captured emissions.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.