Integrated Annual Report 2021
Italgas is Italy’s top gas distributor and the third in Europe: the Group and its affiliates11, with 3,966 people working at the various offices across Italy, manage 74,397 kilometres of gas distribution network, through which, in 2021, 9,194 million cubic metres of gas were distributed to 7,757 thousand users.
The Group and its affiliates hold 1,898 distribution concessions, with a historical presence in Italy’s main cities, including Turin, Venice, Florence, Rome and Naples, and a market share of over 35%.
Italgas was founded in 1837. With more than 180 years of history behind it, it is unanimously acknowledged as the company that has brought gas into Italian homes, contributing towards the country’s social and economic development. It is a contribution that is also renewed today: the most significant example is the methanisation of Sardinia, where since it first started back in 2018, the Group has installed approximately 900 km of new native digital networks and in 2020, the first natural gas was distributed on the island.
Italgas has always had a firm focus on the future, aware of the role its infrastructure will play in supporting the energy transition, guaranteeing the country’s energy security. Through the major investment plan announced in June 2021, the 2021-2027 Business Plan, the Group intends to continue its extension and repurposing of the network, not only in order to guarantee its safety and efficiency, but also to distribute renewable, low-carbon, hydrogen and synthetic gases, which look set to play an increasingly important role over the next few years.
The acquisition of DEPA Infrastructure S.A. in Greece, which should draw to a close during the first few months of 2022, will allow the Group to further strengthen its leadership position in the European gas sector, entering a market that offers significant growth opportunities, making its distribution network development and digitisation capacities available to support Greece’s energy transition.
The core business of Italgas is focused on gas distribution, which it carries out as part of the wider national system, involving the distribution of gas on behalf of sales companies authorised to sell the gas to end customers. In addition to the delivery service, carried out using the local pipeline networks from the city-gates (reduction and metering stations interconnected with the transmission networks), the company also carries out metering activities, which include the collection, processing, validation and provision of consumption data in order to regulate commercial transactions between operators and users.
The operations for the gas distribution business are managed by: || Italgas Reti S.p.A. – which operates nationwide; ||Toscana Energia S.p.A. – operating in the Tuscany region; ||Medea S.p.A. – operating in Sardinia.
Italgas is subject to regulation by the Italian Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and Environment (also referred to as the Authority or ARERA), which defines both how to conduct the service and the rates for distribution and metering.
The gas distribution business is carried out under concession.
The Italgas Group also operates in energy efficiency through Seaside S.p.A. and Ceresa S.p.A., the two energy service companies specialised in energy consulting and the supply of energy services to both the private residential and industrial sector and the public administration sector.
In Sardinia, Italgas also sells gas (LPG, propane air and methane) through Gaxa S.p.A., the island’s most important sales company.
The Group also manages the integrated water service (IWS) of five municipalities in Campania, on a concession basis, through Italgas Acqua S.p.A..
In 2021, the company Bludigit S.p.A. was established, in which all the Group’s Information Technology business was concentrated: through this new company, the Italgas Group offers cutting-edge proprietary digital solutions, making the competences and applications developed in-house available to other operators of both its own energy sector and other sectors.
11 The data referring only to the Group, subject to reporting, are as follows: 3,904 employees, 72,503 km of network, 8,887 million Sm3 of gas distributed, 7,604 million active meters
