An assessment of the Italian smart gas metering program

This paper assesses Italy's original and current deployment plans, with a specific focus on the results of its cost-benefit analysis. In light of the evidence derived from the literature, we observe that the case for the roll-out of smart gas meters in Italy was not supported by a strong emphasis on energy savings but rather focused on increasing efficiency of the Italian gas market; in this respect, we argue that options other than smart gas metering should also be considered. Moreover the Italian cost-benefit analysis, which mostly dealt with the potential cost savings for distributors and suppliers, led to ambiguous results in terms of net present values; thus, we believe that an updated assessment would be extremely useful. Finally, in terms of technological choices, our analysis positively evaluates the regulator's recent proposal to consider a dual-fuel solution for the mass market deployment.