Electricity sector: The European Commission declares compatible Italian State aid to stranded costs in the field of electricity (Electricity Stranded costs)

*This article is an automatic translation of the original article, provided here for your convenience. Read the original article. – EC Comm, 1 December 2004, Italy - Stranded costs of the electricity sector, case N 490/2000 In the context of the liberalisation of the electricity sector, the Commission has always shown some flexibility in favour of "stranded costs", i.e. the costs of commitments or guarantees entered into by undertakings before liberalisation, which may not be honoured as a result of the liberalisation opened by Directive 96/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 1996 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity (OJ L 27, 30.1.1997, p. 20). Such commitments or guarantees may take various forms: long-term purchase contracts,