Overview
- Confcommercio’s OCEN report finds 2025 electricity bills for service-sector firms up 28.8% and gas up 70.4% versus 2019, with monthly power and gas costs topping €2,000 for restaurants and grocery stores.
- Average late‑2025 monthly bills reached €9,117 for medium hotels, €5,979 for large shops, €2,334 for food retailers and €2,083 for restaurants, underscoring pressure on tourism and retail businesses.
- The reinstatement of system charges, now near 20% of the electricity bill, drove a roughly 21% jump in average monthly bills from Q3 to Q4 2025 for affected non‑domestic users.
- The government says its energy decree is about 90% defined and expected within February, yet the section on lowering SME energy costs remains unresolved, with Confindustria urging rapid action.
- Options under discussion include spreading renewable‑incentive costs over a longer period, while a CDP-backed securitization of charges was rejected by the Economy Ministry as too costly and exposed to EU state‑aid risks.