| Popis: |
An innovative approach was adopted by the Italian Parliament in 2011, together with the Government of Premier Monti, when it was decided that they would extend the competences—powers and functions—of the existing independent regulator for electricity and gas, Autorita per l’energia elettrica e il gas (AEEG), to the water sector (subsequently renamed AEEGSI, to include the reference to “sistema idrico” in the acronym). A further innovative approach was developed by AEEGSI in the definition of Italian water regulation. The present paper is a first illustration of both approaches, since my personal belief is that the degree of innovation of the second (in regulation) is deeply related to the degree of innovation of the first (in legislation). In Section “The Reasons for the Innovative Approach in Legislation”, some of the main reasons underlying the reform that was approved at the end of 2011 will be presented; in Section “The New Regulatory Framework”, a brief description of the functioning of the new regulatory governance is reported; in Sections “First Regulatory Period (2012–2015)” and “Second Regulatory Period (2016–2019)”, the regulatory approaches and the respective outcomes with reference to the first and second regulatory periods are illustrated; Section “Non-regulatory Outcomes of Independent Regulation” contains some observations related to the other outcomes achieved by means of independent regulation; and Section “Next steps” reports the next regulatory steps to be considered. |
