Energy bills are already shaping production schedules in Italian industry. La Repubblica reports that some steelworks have begun running furnaces intermittently to cut bills, while paper and ceramics companies are considering production suspensions and longer maintenance stoppages. That is the most tangible part of the alarm: energy is no longer only a cost line, but a factor in deciding whether and when to produce.
Confindustria president Emanuele Orsini said he expects gas to reach €110-€120 per megawatt-hour in January and pointed to the tax credits used in 2022. This is a forecast rather than today’s price. The newspaper reported gas trading at €86.5/MWh in Amsterdam. The distinction matters: businesses are responding to high costs already in place, while the prospect of another rise is intensifying calls for action.
Gas Intensive, a consortium representing sectors including steel, paper, ceramics, glass and chemicals, estimates about €21 billion in costs and €12 billion in extra costs by the end of 2026 under the conditions it assessed. This is an industry estimate, not an official balance sheet for all Italian manufacturing. Still, it helps explain why the issue is appearing in furnace schedules and planned shutdowns.
The government has acknowledged the concern, according to La Repubblica. Yet the available material sets out no new support measure, funding amount or delivery timetable. That is the policy gap: saying that competition is impossible under these conditions, as Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti did, does not itself give energy-intensive firms a workable basis for decisions they face now.
The report does not show that Italian industry as a whole is about to stop. It does show that energy costs have become an operational constraint for the most exposed sectors. A credible response will need usable measures, not only warnings and forecasts.
Sources
- la Repubblica · Source date: 2026-11-12
Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-12