Electrical regulation

The Authority published Resolution 184/2020/R/com, with which it adapted the sector regulations to the provisions established by art.1, paragraph 295 of the 2020 Budget Law, providing for the modification of the sentence to be included in the annex to the invoice containing amounts subject to limitations, eliminating the case of customer liability. On 27 July 2020 Acea Energia presented an appeal to the Lombardy Regional Administrative Court against this resolution alleging its illegitimacy because, linking the application of limitation to the mere passing of time, without considering any obstructive behaviour of the final customers, would lead to a not-constitutionally- oriented interpretation of the 2020 Budget Law. With a judgement of 14 June 2021, the Regional Administrative Court of Lombardy accepted the appeal, with consequent cancellation of resolution 184/2020/R/com, on the basis that the interpretation of the 2020 Budget Law had only referred to the duration of the limitation (two years instead of five years), without however excluding the applicability of the general civil code regulations regarding limitation. With Consultation Document 457/2021/R/com, in order to implement the provisions of the 2020 Budget Law and in compliance with Rulings Nos. 1441, 1444 and 1449 of 2021, the Authority intervened in order to revise the information obligations set out in Resolution 569/2018/R/com, in cases of billing of consumption dating back more than two years, to favour smaller end customers deemed worthy of stronger protection.

With Resolution 603/2021/R/com, the Authority amended Resolution 569/2018/R/com on the billing of consumption dating back more than two years as a result of DCO 457/21, in order to comply with 14 June 2021 Rulings 1441, 1444 and 1449 of the Lombardy Regional Administrative Court. With this resolution, the Authority confirmed the distributor’s obligation to notify the seller, via certified email (PEC) — contemporaneously with the metering or adjustment data referring to consumption dating back to a period more than two years back — the indication of the presumed existence or non-existence of causes hindering the accrual of the 50 limitation period pursuant to the primary and general reference legislation. It also confirmed that the seller’s information obligations vis-a-vis the end customer should be separated depending on whether or not there are any amounts on the invoice for which the limitation is contested. The Authority has also provided for a transitional phase, pending the implementation of the flows between the various entities in the chain and the IWT, which provides for the same information to be transmitted between the parties in a non-automated manner but with a defined time frame.

With consultation 330/2020/R/com, ARERA pre-announced the introduction of a mechanism aimed at sterilising the negative effects of the biennial limitation affecting traders to the detriment of inefficient distribution companies. More specifically, the offsetting mechanism that it intends introducing would only apply in cases where the limitation is challenged by the customer as a consequence of the adjustments arising from delayed adjustments on the metering data previously communicated by the distributor. In these cases, the trader would be compensated for the transportation costs paid to the DSO as well as the expenses incurred to purchase the raw materials and the dispatching based on a reimbursement mechanism funded by the less efficient DSOs in terms of making available the metering data that generated the delayed adjustments where the limitation could possibly apply.
The consultation has not yet been followed by any measures.

Following on from DCO 386/2021, the Authority published Resolution 604/2021/R/com, which provides for: 

• an annual compensation mechanism for the greater protection operator or the dispatching user associated with a withdrawal point, making it possible also to recover in the successive annual session any amounts not recovered in the reference annual session; 
• a mechanism to make distribution companies liable, whereby from 2023 all electricity distribution companies will be required to pay a penalty to CSEA each year for recalculations invoiced in the previous year due to non-collection of actual readings or adjustments of actual metering amounts previously utilised, for the portion prior to 24 months of the date on which the data was made available.

In implementation of the Relaunch Law Decree, Resolution 190/2020/R/eel was published on the reduction of tariffs for low voltage non-domestic users. With this document, the Authority established that: 

• for the months of May, June and July only, the reduction of the metered distribution tariffs and general charges (ASOS and ARIM) for other LV users; 
• if bills have already been issued for May, any adjustments due pursuant to the resolution must be made within the second subsequent bill; 
• for each month of the period of reference, BTA6 users are granted a refund if the maximum power withdrawn in the month does not exceed 2.0 kW. This refund is granted by the distribution companies to the sales companies by 30 September 2020 and by the latter to customers by 30 November 2020.

In implementation of Support Decree-Law. With Resolution 124/2021/R/eel, the Authority ordered the transitory reduction of tariffs for low-voltage non-domestic users, for the period 1 April- 30 June 2021. With this document, the Authority established that:

• for the period 1 April-30 June 2021, for other use LV users (excluding public lighting and recharging points for electric vehicles in places accessible to the public), a reduction is provided on the distribution and metering tariffs and the components covering general charges (ASOS and ARIM); 
• for each month of the reference period, BTA6 users are granted a refund if the maximum power withdrawn in the month does not exceed 2.0 kW. Distribution companies will pay this refund to the sales companies by 30 September 2021, who in turn, will pay this benefit to end customers by 30 November 2021;
• by 30 September 2021, distribution companies will send the Cassa the necessary information to quantify the lower income deriving from the reduction in tariff components to cover the electricity distribution service and metering costs. The Cassa will arrange the offsetting by 31 October 2021; 
• the funds allocated by the Government (€ 600 million) and paid to the Covid-19 emergency Account, for the portion exceeding the resources need to provide the offsetting to distributors, are intended to reduce the tariff rates relating to general charges; • if at the date when this provision comes into effect, bills have already been issued for April, the relevant adjustments must be made within the second subsequent bill.

The Support Decree Law bis was published on 26 May, extending the reduction in charges for SME bills until the end of July 2021.
Subsequently, in implementation of art. 5, paragraph 1, of the “Support Bis” Decree-Law, the Authority published Resolution No.279/2021/R/eel, which extended the provisions already adopted with Resolution 124/2021/R/eel, thereby providing a reduction for other LV users up until 31 July 2021 of the distribution and metering tariffs and the components covering general system charges.
With Resolution 278/2021/R/com, the Authority consequently reformulated the general charges (ASOS and ARIM) for the quarter July-September 2021.

In implementation of the provisions of art. 3 of Decree-Law 130/2021 of 27 September 2021, the Authority published Resolution 396/2021/R/com with which it ordered: 

• the cancellation, for the October-December 2021 quarter, of the ASOS and ARIM tariff component rates for all LV domestic and non-domestic users with power available up to 16.5 kW; 
• the introduction of an additional social bonus for the billing period from 1 October to 31 December 2021.

Resolution 349/2021/R/eel provides for an increase, for 2021, of the deductibles within which penalties for delays in the commissioning forecasts are not activated. However, these penalties were not completely suspended as happened in 2020 (the deductible goes from 95% to 90% for companies that started the PMS2 in the years prior to 2021).

In order to limit the effects of the increased price of raw gas/electricity in the last quarter of 2021, on 27 September Decree-Law 130/2021 (the Bills Decree) was published in the Official Journal.
It reduced the VAT rate in the natural gas sector to 5 per cent for the supply of methane gas for civil and industrial combustion use, applicable to invoices issued for estimated or actual consumption for the months of October, November and December 2021. As for the electricity sector, the Bills Decree reduced the general system charges for all electricity users for the fourth quarter of 2021; in particular, it cancelled the general charges for LV domestic and non-domestic users with power available up to 16.5 kW. The Authority subsequently published Resolution 396/2021/R/com, which implemented the provisions of the Bills Decree. In relation to electricity billing in the last quarter of 2021, the Authority cancelled the rates of the ASOS and ARIM tariff components for all domestic users and other LV users with power available up to 16.5 kW. In the natural gas sector, the measure cancelled the rates of the RE, RET, GS and GST tariff components for October, November and December 2021.
Resolution 396/2021/R/com introduced an additional social bonus for the billing period from 1 October to 31 December 2021.

As provided for in Decree-Law 124/19, ARERA published Resolution 63/2021/R/com, subsequently supplemented by 257/2021/R/com, which governs the new method of disbursing the economic bonus from 2021. The new rules, coming in the wake of a series of focus groups and consultations organised by ARERA, allow end customers in difficult circumstances to automatically receive the discount in their bills without having to specifically apply for them.
The new bonus disbursement process gives a central role to INPS, which has to identify the benefit recipients, and for the IWT, which has to identify the supply to be supported and ensure that the benefit targets only the household and year in question.
The Authority also introduced a series of other measures to regulate the disbursement of the residual bonus accruals for 2020 and the disbursement of the recovery of the accruals, due for the first months of 2021 but still unpaid since the new rules only came into force for sales operators after July 2021.
Intended to cap the supply spending increases expected in the fourth quarter of the year, the subsequent Resolution 396/2021/R/ com introduced an additional social bonus for the billing period from 1 October until 31 December 2021.

With Resolution 135/2021/R/eel, the Authority introduced the option of selecting the commercial counterparty during the contract transfer registration phase, prior to having published Consultation Document 586/2020/R/eel. These provisions are applicable as from 30 October 2021 (Resolution 360/2021/R/eel), whereas with reference to transfer registration applications on a withdrawal point associated with the Gradual Protection Service, it will be possible to select a commercial counterparty as from 1 July 2021.
Without prejudice to the fact that, in the case of a refusal, the customer is free to approach another open market vendor or last resort service operator, in which respect the obligation remains to accept the transfer registration.
The Authority published Resolution 360/2021/R/eel, which also states that in the event of a change of supplier, the existing commercial counterparty must tell the end customer supply contract holder that the contract is being terminated, specifying the reasons for it.

With Resolution 449/2020/R/eel the Authority amended the regulation on network losses for the three years 2019-2021: 

• reducing the commercial loss factor recognised in LV which for Areti goes down from 2% to 1.83% valid from the equalisation accruing to 2019 and, as a consequence, the percentage of standard loss to be applied to withdrawals of LV final customers which, from 1 January 2021, goes down from 10.4% to 10.2%; 
• awarding to the DSOs, for the three years 2019-2021, an equalisation amount equal to the lower between the value obtained counting the energy lost with the selling price to higher protection providers (PAU) differentiated by month and by band and that obtained from the annual average PAU; 
• it does not introduce for DSOs the process of ensuring greater efficiency of commercial losses, unlike what was anticipated in the consultation; 
• introduces a mechanism for recognising non-recoverable fraudulent withdrawals on an application by the companies — to be presented in 2022 with reference to the three years 2019-2021 — after checking the existence of the following requisites:
  
   
  • the total result of the equalisation in the three years 2019-2021 must be to the debit of the company;
  • the condition pursuant to the previous point must be aggravated by non-recoverable fraudulent withdrawals attributable to the following cases:
    • 1. cases for which interruption of the supply can cause public order problems or put at risk people present in the place and the operating personnel tasked with carrying out the disconnection and for which there is a formal report to the competent authorities;
    • 2. cases of buildings occupied abusively for which there are measures of public authorities that prevent interruption of the supply;
  •  if the fraudulent withdrawals are in part estimated, it is necessary to specify the estimation criteria adopted, justify their validity and the results through measurements — for a period of at least 6 months — on a representative sample of 10% of the estimated withdrawals; - fixes a cap on the amount payable to the company equal to the reduction to zero of the total penalty over the three years 2019-2021.

With the Integrated text on output-based regulation in force from 1 January 2020, the Authority introduced the possibility for the DSOs to present regulatory experiments to improve the service quality in particularly critical contexts. A specific feature of these experiments is the suspension of the penalties for the experimental period and their non-retroactive application if the target levels for the indicators of number and duration of interruptions without notice, set by the current regulations, are achieved.
In this context, Areti presented its proposal, outlining a process for improving the technical quality indicators different from that defined by the ordinary regulation. This proposal was approved by the Authority with Determination 20/2020 of 20 November 2020.

Very briefly, the measure postpones to 2024 the calculation of the bonuses and penalties for the entire four-year period 2020-2023 and provides for the activation of an additional bonus mechanism if the target proposed at 2023 is achieved and the effective annual levels achieved are better than those proposed in the experimentation.
Two specifications: 

• the total bonus obtained cannot be more than that achievable in the ordinary regulation; 
• in the event of non-achievement of the improvement commitment indicated, Areti must pay any penalties that it would have incurred in the four-year period, in the absence of an extension.

As regards the 2019 accrual, the national service continuity results were made known with Resolution 462/2020/R/eel; these confirmed for Areti a penalty of € 5.4 million.

With Resolution 500/2020/R/eel the 2020-2022 Resilience Plan sent by Areti on 30 June 2020, including the final results of the actions completed in 2019, was approved: for actions already previously included in the 2019-2021 plan and not yet completed the completion dates were confirmed, without taking into consideration the delaying effects associated with the emergency situation in progress.
Furthermore, with Resolution 563/2020/R/eel, the Company was granted the a bonus of around € 3.1 million for the interventions completed in 2019.
With Resolution 536/2021 the Authority established which interventions to increase distribution network resilience qualify for bonuses and/or penalties, relative to the 2021-2023 plan, under the incentive mechanism defined in the TIQE (for areti, 47 interventions out of 56 qualify for bonuses/penalties and 9 for penalties).
Also, Resolution 537/2021/R/eel determined the bonuses and penalties relating to the electricity distribution network resilience increase interventions concluded in 2020 (for areti, the 2020 resilience bonus adds up to € 5,278,960.80, which CSEA paid to the Company by the end of 2021).

On 14 July 2020, Resolution 270/2020/R/efr was published; this contained the new rules for defining the tariff contribution to cover the costs incurred by DSOs with regard to obligations arising from the mechanism of energy efficiency certificates. The measure confirms the value of the cap on the tariff contribution of € 250/ EEC and introduces, starting from the current obligation year, a consideration additional to this contribution, to be awarded to each distributor for each EEC used to comply with its obligations. On the one hand, ARERA repeats that it considers the cap an instrument necessary to limit the changes in market prices, on the other, it considers opportune to provide for an additional consideration in support of distributors in the light of the economic losses that they are forced to incur owing to the scarcity of EECs available. On 13 October 2020, Areti presented an appeal for cancellation of the resolution.
The resolution, in addition, introduced the possibility of requesting from CSEA the extraordinary consideration in advance of 18% of the specific target for the 2019 obligation year, in order to finance distributors which having already acquired EECs at the beginning of the period, then suffered the negative effects of the extensions of the end date of the obligation year laid down in the Italian Relaunch Decree Law (30 November 2020). Areti submitted an application on 31 August 2020.
In December 2020, Resolution 550/2020/R/efr confirmed the value of 250 €/EEC for the tariff contribution awarded for the 2019 obligation year and fixed at 4.49 €/EEC the value of the additional consideration.
In view of the continuous increase in prices once again during the first half of 2021, the main sector associations sent a letter to Mite, urging the adoption of urgent measures, especially regarding the correction for the current year, and reimbursement of the extra costs.
On 31 May 2021, the Decree of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition was published in the Official Gazette, containing the “Determination of national energy saving. targets that could be pursued by electricity and gas distribution companies for 2021- 2024 (so-called white certificates)”. The Decree extended the expiry of the obligation year 2020 to 16 July 2021, and the Authority subsequently published Determination 6/2021-DMRT, whereby it determined the primary energy saving obligations for electricity and natural gas distributors for the obligation year 2020, setting Areti an obligation of 54,848 white certificates.

On 3 August 2021, the Authority issued Resolution358/2021/R/ efr, with which it confirmed the cap at 250 €/EEC and the additional unit fee at 10 €/EEC. In view of the extension of the deadline for the 2020 obligation year to 16 July 2021 and the regulatory uncertainty still existing in the run up to this deadline, the Authority published Resolution 547/2021/R/efr in which it confirmed its intentions stated in DCO 359/2021/R/efr. In particular, the Authority established that electricity and natural gas distributors will be granted an exceptional additional component of 7.26 €/EEC for each certificate delivered at the end of the 2020 obligation year, applicable to their own specific target for that obligation year and to any remaining portions of the targets for the 2018 and 2019 obligation years, but not beyond the threshold of their own updated specific target. The exceptional component was envisaged to cover the extra costs incurred by operators for the difficulties in procuring the EEC needed for the upcoming target deadlines.

The Authority published Determination 16/2021 – DMRT with which it defined the 2021 EEC obligation for areti, which amounts to 16,580 EECs.

With Resolution 461/2020/R/eel of 17 November 2020, the Authority introduced the mechanism for replenishing credits relating to network services that would otherwise not be recoverable by DSOs; the move allowed areti to collect an advance payment of 50% by the end of 2020 and the replenishment balance by 31 August 2021.
With resolution 614/2021/R/com, following the consulting process in the second half of 2021, the Authority updated the criteria for determining and updating the remuneration rate for capital invested in infrastructure services for the electricity and gas sectors for 2022-2027, setting the rate at 5.2% for electricity distribution and metering.
At the same time, ARERA published the consulting document 615/2021/R/com containing “Guidelines for developing ROSSbase regulations to apply to all regulated electricity and gas infrastructure services” which describes the methodological approach it intends to follow in developing ROSS systems (Regulation for Spending and Service Objectives), for tariff regulation of electricity and gas infrastructure services. The ROSS methodology will replace the current regulatory approach that entails separate recognition of operating and capital expense, in favour of a system based on the concept of “total reference spending”, the application of sharing ratios relative to total efficiency and the application of capitalisation rates set by the regulator. This new approach is currently still in the consulting stage.
In December 2021, in addition, the updates of the obligatory transmission, distribution and measurement tariffs for the year 2022 were made known, as well as the economic condition for providing the connection service.

With Resolution 261/2020/R/eel changes were introduced to the rules on the network code with application starting from January 2021.
The main provisions introduced regard the reduction to 4 months of the DSOs’ exposure through reduction of the contractual forms termination times and, consequently, the amount of the guarantees chargeable to the vendors.
Following the requests for clarification sent by operators to the Authority’s offices on the correct methods of applying the new rules, a subsequent measure 490/2020/R/eel was published. This introduced, for traders with credit ratings, the obligation to present a supplementary guarantee in the traditional form in cases of a significant increase in withdrawal points served, limited to the new PODs (so-called GARnewPOD). With the subsequent further measure 583/2020/R/eel, ARERA also established that in cases of non-fulfilment by traders, if the traditional guarantee GARnewPOD is not sufficient with respect to the debt exposure of the trader, the DSO is required to proceed, at time of enforcement, to a request for reintegration of the guarantee to be done within the following 7 working days, and to a new notice to perform with regard to payment of the amounts due within the following 7 working days, only after which, in the absence of reintegration and at the same time complete payment of the amounts due, the transport contract can be understood as terminated.

Subsequently, the Authority published Resolution 81/2021/R/com further amending the previous provisions (Resolution 116/2020/R/ com, Resolution 248/2020/R/com, Resolution 261/2020/R/eel and Resolution 490/2020/R/eel) relating to the general transport conditions referring to the guarantees to be submitted to distributors.

More specifically, this resolution made provision for: 

• an extension to the derogation recognised for the admissible credit rating in the case of a downgrade due to the health emergency for an additional 12 months from confirmation of the rating; 
• an extension of the admissible insurance sureties to those issued by institutions controlled by companies with the required rating, pursuant to Art. 2359, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Italian Civil Code.

The Authority published Resolution 32/2021/R/eel approving the mechanism for recognising general charges not collected by seller from end customers and already paid to the distribution companies, which follows up on the previous DCO 445/2020/R/eel.
The same measure further confirmed that as already stipulated under Resolution 109/2017, the guarantee that the transport user is obliged to provide to the distribution company to cover the GSC’s payment obligations continues to be measured at an amount representing the best estimate of the amounts normally collected by operators, or that the distribution companies reduce the GAR amount defined pursuant to paragraph 2.7 of Annex B to Resolution 268/2015/R/eel and the maximum amount of the guarantee, referring to the provisions under paragraph 3.3 of the same Annex B, by 4.9% to be applied to the portion of the GAR amount relating only to the General System Charges. This amount will be updated on a two-yearly basis by the Authority based on the trend of the unpaid ratio in the country, where default is being recorded on average at higher levels.
With Resolution 123/2021/R/com, the Authority updated the electricity sector general charges tariffs, announcing the transfer of the ASOS component from GSE to CSEA, to be allocated to the Account for new renewable energy plants and similar (pursuant to paragraph 41.1, letter b), of the TIT). The transfer of responsibility for the collection of the ASOS component to CSEA, with effect from 1 July 2021 was officially confirmed under Resolution 231/2021/R/eel.
On 30 June 2021, the Authority published Resolution 278/2021/R/ com, which updated the tariff components intended to cover general charges and other electricity and gas components.
Consultation document 380/2021/R/eel proposed a unified mechanism to coordinate the reimbursement to distribution companies of general system charges and network charges not collected and not otherwise recoverable, and to encourage efficient credit recovery.
In implementation of the provisions of art. 3 of Legislative Decree 130/2021, through Resolution 396/2021/R/com, the Authority ordered the cancellation, for the October-December 2021 quarter, of the rates of the ASOS and ARIM tariff components for all LV domestic and non-domestic users with power available up to 16.5 kW.
Noteworthy subsequent events include the publication of Resolution 35/2022/R/eel, with which ARERA implements the provisions of art. 14 of the “Support ter” decree, cancelling for the first quarter of 2022 the applicable rates of the ASOS and ARIM tariff components for all users, with effect from 1 January 2022 and rectifying the provisions of Resolution 635/2021/R/com.
The Authority also specified that: (i) if, on the date of entry into force of the measure to zero the charges for companies with a capacity of more than 16.5 kW, the sellers have already issued invoices for electricity supply for the period from 1 January to 31 March 2022, the relevant adjustments must be made by the second subsequent bill; and (ii) if the commercial offer accepted by the customer does not provide for the direct application of the general charge components (ASOS and ARIM), each seller must guarantee the customer a cost reduction equal to the difference between the charge rates without and with zeroing.

With Resolution 541/2020/R/eel the Authority launched national experimentation destined for LV customers, aimed at facilitating the installation of e-car rechargers in private areas.

Acceptance is voluntary and free and access is subordinated to observance of a number of conditions: 

• the customer must be at LV with contractually committed power of not more than 4.5 kW and not less than 2 kW; 
• the POD must be fitted with a 1G or 2G remotely-managed meter. In this second case, any multi-hour bands set by the vendor must enable identification of the withdrawals made in night, weekend and holiday bands; 
• a recharging device must be electrically connected to the meter; this device must at least be capable of:
  • measuring and recording the active recharging power and transmitting this figure to an external subject (e.g. an aggregator);
  • reducing/increasing or reinstating the maximum recharging power; 
• customers must give their consent to checks and controls also in their homes and are required to communicate promptly any change to the system or contract that occurs during the experimentation.

The application of the experimentation runs from 1 July 2020 and lasts until 31 December 2023.
Finally, in the context of public electric mobility, we can note the consultation document 201/2020/R/eel with which the Authority first implemented the decree of the Ministry of Economic Development of 30 January 2020, illustrating its first orientations on the subject of participation of electric vehicles in the Dispatching Services Market (DSM), through the recharging infrastructures equipped with vehicle-to-grid technology.
Resolution 352/2021/R/eel launched a trial of the most appropriate regulatory solutions for the procurement of local ancillary services provided by distribution operators, for the associated remuneration. The trial takes into account the definitions and general principles already found in the European regulatory framework and also serves to gather information that may be useful in the European debate.

ARERA published Resolution 105/2021/R/eel amending requirement R-4.01 under Annex A to Resolution 87/2016, specifying that in the case of second-generation meters installed at withdrawal points that were equipped with previous meters, the information displayed must show a reading of the totals for the months prior to the replacement, for a period of 26 months and 15 days starting from the replacement. The previous version of the regulation had stated “at least” 26 months and 15 days. This amendment was implemented by 30 July 2021, also with regard to the 2G systems already in service.

With Resolution 568/2019 of December 2019, the Authority introduced tariff regulation of reactive energy inputs by end customers and distribution companies for all voltage levels with effect from 2022. The Authority published Determination 2/2021 – DIEU stating that every distribution company directly connected to the national high and very-high transmission grid, needs to send the Authority information by 30 June 2021 on the quantities referring to the volumes of reactive energy, the type and annual amount of interventions implemented since 2017 and those planned by 2024, in order to check on the voltage and manage reactive energy inputs and withdrawals from the transmission grid. Furthermore, the Authority is expecting the joint report by 31 October 2021 from Terna and distribution companies on the outcome of the coordination and planning of interventions to check the voltage and management of reactive energy exchanges.
In December 2021, ARERA also published a consultation document (515/2021) which put the case for postponement of fees applicable for reactive energy inputted from July 2022 and only in the F3 band in the short-term, and an adjustment for aggregates of areas with possible exceptions allowed in the medium-term (from 2023 or 2024). The consultation is still in progress.

The Authority published Resolution 109/2021/R/eel — which follows up on Consultation Document 345/2019 — in which it defines the procedures for providing the transmission, distribution and dispatching service in the case of electricity withdrawn for consumption relating to ancillary generation services, and in the case of electricity withdrawn and subsequently fed back into the grid from the storage system. The priority objective of the resolution is to standardise regulations for the transmission, distribution dispatching services for electricity withdrawn for subsequent feeding back into the grid and extend the aforementioned regulation to more complex cases, where the withdrawal of electricity via the same connection point is not only intended for storage systems and/or ancillary generation services, but also additional loads separate to these. The resolution stipulated that as from 1 January 2022 on request of the producer, electricity withdrawn for the subsequent feeding into the grid will be handled as negative electricity fed in for the purposes of accessing transport, distribution and dispatching services.
The Authority’s Communiqué of 28 July 2021 gives notice of a review of the time frames defined in Resolution 109/2021/R/eel and the postponement of application.
ARERA’s publication of Resolution 560/2021/R/eel postpones until 1 January 2023, instead of 1 January 2022, the application of the rules on transmission, distribution and dispatching services for electrochemical storage as referred to in Resolution 109/2021/R/ eel, following the communique of 28 July 2021.
The reason for the postponement is that Terna has not yet defined the Annex to the Grid Code stating the principles, criteria and methods for calculating the algorithms used to quantify the electricity withdrawn to be subsequently inputted to the grid. Terna must publish the document, which is currently under consultation, by 28 February 2022.

Noteworthy among the subsequent events is the consultation document DCO 45/2022/R/eel of 8 February 2022 concerning the Gradual Protection Service for electricity sector micro-businesses pursuant to art. 1, paragraph 60 of Law No. 124/17. The document sets out ARERA’s guidelines on the regulation of and methods of assigning the graduated protection service for micro-businesses, in force from January 2023.