Italian electricity bills to include additional costs for licences, Enel says

MILAN (Reuters) -Italian electricity bills will include additional costs due to be imposed on utilities to secure licence extensions, Italy's largest power provider, Enel, said on Tuesday.

The government last year extended electricity distribution licences, which were due to expire in 2030, by up to 20 years, but in return asked utilities to make a one-off payment to the state and present additional investment plans for grid upgrades.

The government also said it might use some of the proceeds from utilities to reduce the cost of energy bills, but there has been no action on this so far.

Enel, in responses sent to investors ahead of its annual shareholders meeting on May 22, said the one-off payment and the additional grid investments would both be factored into domestic energy bills.

The government has not yet said exactly when it will impose the one-off payment.

Last year, Italy's average electricity price reached 109 euros ($122.61) per megawatt hour, nearly double that in France, prompting calls from both industrial and retail customers for action to reduce power bills.

Government officials are in discussions with the utilities to finalise their investment plans and negotiate the one-off payments.

In March, Italian energy authority ARERA said the payments and investment plans required from utilities would increase their regulated asset base (RAB), granting them an annual return of 6.5%.

Enel is Italy's leading operator on power distribution, while regional utilities, such as ACEA and A2A, manage smaller segments of the network.

($1 = 0.8890 euros)

(Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Alvise Armellini and Susan Fenton)