During the XXX National Assembly of Anci, President Fassino announced a national plan led by Ministers Zanonato and Delrio to aggregate Italian utilities, particularly smaller ones. This is the position expressed by Piero Fassino, certainly very tough: “Municipal companies and investee companies of the Municipalities are characterized by an enormous fragmentation which often translates into financial deficits, oversized workforces, inefficient services, low quality supply. For this reason, Anci has promoted a working table with ministers Zanonato and Delrio to develop a project for the reorganization of multiutilities aimed at a new and more rational structure of the sector”.
A lot has been done in recent years (creation of Hera, A2A, Iren, etc.), but there is still a lot to do. From research on the economic-financial dynamics of the main Italian utilities and former municipal companies, it clearly emerges how size favors better performance; as turnover increases, operating profitability (EBITDA/Revenues) systematically improves. This trend, already evident in the 2008 financial statements, became clearer in 2012/2013 with the worsening of the economic crisis which also affected utilities. Aggregation is a necessary condition, but not sufficient to improve performance if the mergers are not followed by true integrations. Often the pre-existing realities coexist as "separate at home".
"To increase attractiveness, it could also be envisaged that the Cassa Depositi e Prestit (CDDPP), already almost present in Hera, will have a role in co-financing the municipalities that sell the companies in case they undertake to reinvest the proceeds in new or upgraded infrastructure. The CDDPP could also directly finance companies both as equity (through the Fondo Strategico) and as debt. This with the aim of creating large players with adequate resources and solid industrial plans". This was stated by Andrea Gilardoni, president of the Observatory on Alliances and Strategies in the Pan-European Utility Market.
The choice of a governance independent from politics is another essential point. Gilardoni continued: “Administrations must set basic objectives regarding the services provided and evaluate companies (and management) on the basis of these. This is even if the municipalities were to reduce or cancel their shareholding. It should also not be forgotten that the Authorities reduce the control requirements of local administrations: take for example what is happening today in electricity and gas”.
A still different problem is that of utilities which are making heavy losses because they are poorly managed by politics: here no one (private individuals, Cassa or other) is willing to invest a euro, as the values of the companies are negative. The phenomenon is frequent in the South but not unknown in the North. In this case, the solution could be the commissioning or liquidation of these companies.
