Italy Issues Decree Reducing Heating Season by 15 Days to Conserve Gas

ROME (Sputnik) - Italian Minister for Ecological Transition Roberto Cingolani on Friday signed a decree on energy saving regulations during winter, including the reduction of the 2022-2023 heating season by 15 days and a temperature cap for residential premises.

The decree divides Italy into six zones lettered A-F. Each of them will have its own duration of the heating period, from the shortest in the southern regions of Zone A to the longest in the north. Rome falls into Zone D, where heating will be on for 11 hours every day from November 8 to April 7. The temperature in residential premises will be reduced by 1 degree Celsius.

Italian medical institutions, kindergartens, swimming pools, saunas and buildings generating heat with the use of renewable energy sources are exempt from the new rules, the decree read.

If properly implemented, the new energy regulations may save Italy about 2.7 million cubic meters of gas, according to Italian energy efficiency agency ENEA.

On Wednesday, Italian multinational oil and gas company Eni announced that gas supplies from Russian energy giant Gazprom had resumed. The energy delivery under the Gazprom Export contracts via Austria to Italy were halted due to the refusal of the Austrian operator to confirm transport nominations after regulatory changes in Austria became effective late September.