Abstract

The goal of «certificati bianchi» (i.e. energy efficiency certificates - tee) is to stimulate the investment to enhance efficiency in energy consumption in Italy. In this paper, we provide a thorough description and constructive criticism of the system. More in details, we carefully characterize i) the annual obligations pertaining to the natural gas distribution companies for the acquisition of tees, ii) the procedure to accomplish them and iii) the role of the institutional players (such as, for example, the Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico and the ARERA) in the process. Then, we address the theme of the additional tees that a company bidding in competitive public tenders for natural gas distribution services can offer to Municipalities in «Minimum Territorial Area» (ATEM) and, in particular, we stress the implications of such offer for the financial plan of the "Bidder". Finally, we discuss some issues with the design of the system, a possible way forward to address them and, in addition, the esco's role in competitive public tenders for natural gas distribution services.