Regulation and competition in public utilities: Electric utility management in Italy and other industrialized countries

In industrialized countries, electric power has become a vital energy resource requiring significant efforts on the part of national institutions to establish and maintain sound management and energy supply strategies. The situation in Italy reflects world trends in that electric power in this country now accounts for over one-third of total energy consumption and this percentage is expected to increase steadily through to the year 2000. This endorsement of electric power is having a strong impact on quality of life and on international relations as Italy, in order to ensure security of energy supplies, is actively pursuing of strategy of energy source and supplier diversification. With reference to recent proposals, in line with European Communities free market strategies, to deregulate the Italian electric power industry, this paper briefly analyzes the current institutional nature of ENEL (the Italian National Electricity Board) and compares the Italian electric power industry and market situation with that of Japan and the USA. The various aspects taken into consideration include investment, rate structure, quality of service, management methods and competition. An analysis is made of the most pressing difficulties currently troubling ENEL and suggestions are made as to the best courses of action to be taken