The Italian electricity and gas markets were opened to competition by the national rules implementing the first European Commission (EC) electricity and gas liberalisation directives (respectively, the 1999 Bersani Decree and the 2000 Letta Decree).
Subsequently, progress in legislation was driven by either efforts to fix the causes of contingent dramatic events (such as the 2003 electricity blackout or the 2006 winter gas shortage) or overambitious attempts to ‘tidy up the house’, and/or reframe the balance of power between the Government and the regulator (for example, the 2004 Marzano Law).
