Italy moves to keep energy bills down

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Thursday announced measures worth three billion euros ($3.5 billion) to keep gas and electricity bills down this winter as power prices soar across Europe.

He told the Confindustria employers association the measures would particularly target the poorest and most vulnerable.

“In the absence of government intervention, in the next quarter the price of electricity could increase by around 40 percent, and that of gas by 30 percent,” Draghi said.

“For this reason we have decided to eliminate for the last quarter of the year the system costs for gas for everyone, and for electricity for families and small companies.”

System costs are added to energy bills to cover everything from incentives for renewable energy sources to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants.