Italy Eyes Big Energy Savings

The Italian government is set to introduce measures worth up to almost €3 billion ($4.1 billion) a year to cut energy bills for small- and medium-sized businesses by at least 10 percent, according to slides seen by Reuters.

The slides, drawn up by the Industry Ministry, include a series of steps that will allow yearly savings on power bills estimated at between €1.9 billion and €2.9 billion ($4 billion).

The ministry said in an emailed statement the slides were a working draft that had been drawn up some time ago, adding the government's overall plan would be presented in the next few weeks.

($1 = 0.7294 Euros)

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes, editing by Isla Binnie)