Gas prices in Italy
Since January 2024 most Italian households have bought gas on the free market (mercato libero) at prices set by their supplier. Only vulnerable customers, such as people over 75 or households entitled to the social bonus, can still be supplied under the protected service (servizio di tutela della vulnerabilità), and the energy regulator ARERA publishes its gas cost component, the CMEM, every month.
Gas is Italy's main heating fuel: most homes have an individual or shared gas boiler that also heats water, and many cook with gas, which makes Italy one of Europe's largest gas markets.
Italy produces little gas of its own and imports most of it, by pipeline from Algeria, Azerbaijan (TAP), Libya and northern Europe, and as LNG through several terminals. Since 2022 Algeria has replaced Russia as the largest supplier. The bill then adds network and system charges, an excise duty that is lower in the south, a regional surcharge and VAT.
Sources: Eurostat, ARERA, World Bank, ECB
Household prices half-year by half-year
Eurostat's household price per kWh in Italy, all taxes included. The full history in the app ›
Source: Eurostat (nrg_pc_202).
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Gas prices in Italy explained
How an Italian gas bill is built
The bill groups the costs into the gas itself (spesa per la materia gas), transport and meter management, system charges (oneri di sistema) and taxes. Gas is measured in standard cubic metres (Smc). VAT is 10% on the first 480 Smc a year and 22% above that, and the excise duty rises with consumption.
What Italy did in 2022
To soften the crisis, the government cut VAT on gas to 5% from late 2021 until the end of 2023, temporarily removed the system charges from gas bills and widened the social bonus for low-income households. These measures have since ended.
Choosing an offer
ARERA's offer portal (Portale Offerte) lists every supplier's offers and lets you compare them on your own consumption; switching costs nothing and does not interrupt supply. Fixed-price offers protect against increases, while indexed offers follow the wholesale price at the Italian hub PSV month by month. Sending your own meter reading (autolettura) keeps the bill close to what you really use.
Reading the Italian figures
ARERA's CMEM is not a household price: it is only the cost of the gas for vulnerable customers, before network and system charges, taxes and VAT, which is why it is shown per MWh and per Smc, and why Eurostat's figure, with everything included, leads this page.
CMEM component (ARERA)
latest official figures for September 2026
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Gas procurement (CMEM) | 78.8021 €/MWh |
| = 21.889472 €/GJ | |
| = 0.843182 €/Smc |
excl. taxes and VAT
Compared with neighbouring countries
| Italy | 0.1137 €/kWh |
|---|---|
| France | 0.1347 €/kWh |
| Austria | 0.1240 €/kWh |
| Slovenia | 0.0859 €/kWh |
| EU average | 0.1103 €/kWh |
Eurostat, H1 2026, € per kWh with all taxes.
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Questions about the gas price
- What does gas cost in Italy?
- ARERA CMEM: 78.8021 €/MWh (latest official figures for September 2026). Eurostat's average household price in Italy was 0.1137 €/kWh in H1 2026, all taxes included.
- Is gas cheaper in Italy than in neighbouring countries?
- In H1 2026 households in Italy paid 0.1137 €/kWh, against 0.1347 €/kWh in France, 0.1240 €/kWh in Austria and 0.0859 €/kWh in Slovenia (Eurostat, in euros). The EU average was 0.1103 €/kWh.
- How has the gas price changed in Italy?
- From H1 2025 to H1 2026 the household price fell by 8.3%, from 0.1240 €/kWh to 0.1137 €/kWh. Over the last three years it ranged from 0.1137 €/kWh to 0.1586 €/kWh.
- What is the CMEM?
- The component ARERA sets every month for the cost of gas in the protected service for vulnerable customers, following the wholesale market. It covers only the gas itself, so a full household bill per Smc is clearly higher.
- Who counts as a vulnerable gas customer in Italy?
- Among others, people over 75, households entitled to the social bonus for energy and people with disabilities. They can stay in the protected service, whose conditions ARERA sets.
- What is a standard cubic metre (Smc)?
- Gas measured at standard temperature and pressure, the unit Italian bills use. One Smc holds a little over 10 kWh of energy.
Gas prices in other countries
Sources and licences
- Eurostat, nrg_pc_202: household gas prices (20–199 GJ a year, all taxes), as published; conversions by EU Studio.
- Fonte: ARERA (Autorità di Regolazione per Energia Reti e Ambiente), CMEM,m. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Source: World Bank Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet), CC BY 4.0. Converted to €/MWh with ECB rates.
- Exchange rates: ECB euro reference rates, free of charge at www.ecb.europa.eu.