Rome, 4 Mar. (LaPresse) – Storage levels are “above 50%”, “the highest level in the EU”. This was stated by the Minister for Enterprises and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso, responding during question time in the Chamber to a question from the Democratic Party on electricity and fuel prices in light of the war in Iran. Urso stressed, however, that “we are all aware that the ongoing war has significant consequences on energy costs, especially for countries that do not have nuclear power, and could also have consequences on supplies, should it last over time. It obviously depends on the duration of the conflict”.
On the supply front, Urso explained that “Italy, as Minister Pichetto Fratin has already clarified, is in better conditions than other countries, in a very different position compared to the past. We have worked with determination to diversify sources from other countries, thus becoming a transit hub for natural gas, particularly from North Africa, Azerbaijan and the United States via LNG. Storage levels are also at high levels, above 50%, the highest level in Europe, compared to Germany which has fallen below 30%”.
A different issue is the cost of electricity. “The price of electricity in Italy,” Urso added, “is directly affected by the trend of gas prices, whose European index is the TTF based in the Netherlands, precisely because we do not have independent sources of nuclear energy as France, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Belgium, Finland, Hungary and other Union countries do”. Strong volatility, combined with well-known speculative dynamics, is transmitted to electricity prices through the marginal price mechanism, with effects on businesses and families. “On this we have intervened, as you recalled, with the energy decree,” Urso recalled, adding, however, that “we are all aware that action must also and above all be taken at European level, now more than ever, because no one can predict the outcome and duration of the conflict and therefore the impacts on supplies and production costs”.