1. Current Definition
Currently, the SSPC (Simple Production and Consumption System) is defined as the system in which a power line connects one or more production units managed, as producers, by the same natural or legal person or by different legal persons provided they all belong to the same corporate group, to one or more consumption units managed, as final customers, by the same legal person or by legal persons of the same group. This configuration thus imposes a subjective constraint among producers, effectively limiting, on the consumption or production side, access to the SSPC regime to parties linked by formal corporate relationships (Art. 16, para. 1, Legislative Decree No. 210/2021 and Art. 1.1, letter nn) of Annex A to ARERA Resolution of December 12, 2013, No. 578/2013/R/eel, the so-called TISSPC).
2. Amendment Proposal
The new formulation proposed during the conversion into law of Decree Law No. 19/2025 (the so-called Energy Bills Decree) provides for the removal of the requirement for producers to belong to the same corporate group, while leaving this requirement unchanged for consumers. The revised text would allow producers not belonging to the same corporate group to contribute to electricity generation within the same SSPC.
New proposed definition:
“The system in which a power line connects one or more production units managed, as producers, by the same natural or legal person or by different legal persons, to a consumption unit managed by a natural person as final customer or to one or more consumption units managed, as final customers, by the same legal person or by different legal persons provided they all belong to the same corporate group [...]”.
3. Proposal Rationale
The aim of the amendment is to:
promote the integration of production plants by third parties, including independent ones, within an SSPC, while maintaining the unity of the consumption system;
overcome the current corporate rigidities, which often do not reflect the operational reality of companies that share spaces, interests, or common energy goals, even if they do not formally belong to the same group;
stimulate energy efficiency and self-production behind a single POD, avoiding the need to adopt configurations that use the public grid (Energy Communities, remote self-consumption via public line, collective self-consumption).
4. Conclusions
The proposed amendment is in line with recent regulatory developments on self-consumption and distributed energy systems, aiming to make the SSPC framework more inclusive and versatile while preserving the safeguards of managerial responsibility and administrative simplification inherent in the current configuration.
By no later than April 29, 2025, the proposed amendment must (or must not) be definitively approved by Parliament during the conversion of the Energy Bills Decree into law.
Should this proposal be effectively and definitively approved, pending further adoption by ARERA within the framework of the TISSPC, for those SSPC configurations that wish to add one or more production plants owned by parties other than the current plant owners, the procedure provided for communicating SSPC configuration changes in accordance with the relevant GSE Technical Rules is deemed applicable.
