Lorenzoni, Arturo --- "Institutional and Organizational Reform in the Italian Electricity Supply Industry: Reconciling Competition with the Single Tariff" [2003] ELECD 55; in Glachant, Jean-Michael; Finon, Dominique (eds), "Competition in European Electricity Markets" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2003)

Book Title: Competition in European Electricity Markets

Editor(s): Glachant, Jean-Michael; Finon, Dominique

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781843761785

Section: Chapter 13

Section Title: Institutional and Organizational Reform in the Italian Electricity Supply Industry: Reconciling Competition with the Single Tariff

Author(s): Lorenzoni, Arturo

Number of pages: 16

Extract:

13. Institutional and organizational
reform in the Italian electricity
supply industry: reconciling
competition with the single tariff
Arturo Lorenzoni

INTRODUCTION
The aim of this contribution is to describe in brief the recent history of the
electricity industry in Italy, looking at its regulation and the trends towards
liberalization and privatization of the incumbent utility that has operated
since the industry was nationalized in 1962.
In 1995 regulation of the industry passed from a political to an indepen-
dent authority, and the question of how the sector should now be struc-
tured, in the light of the implementation of EU Directive 96/92/EC, was the
subject of intense debate. Two leading schools of thought were opposed;
one supported full deregulation of the market, with a radical change of the
integrated monopolist structure, while the other wanted to introduce the
minimal changes required for implementing the directive. The decision
taken in March 2001 to open virtually all the non-domestic market from
2004 onwards, and the new structural organization of the electricity indus-
try seems to indicate that full deregulation has been affirmed. Nevertheless,
it is not yet clear whether the new system will be able to fulfil the dominant
role of ENEL and leave room for real competition.


THE REGULATION OF THE INDUSTRY

A Historical Overview

The birth of the Italian electricity industry really occurred in 1883, when
the Edison Company of Milan constructed a system for illuminating the
La Scala Theatre and a number of nearby buildings. Private firms ...