Energy prices won't fall in Italy any time soon - Enel chief

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 18 - Enel CEO Flavio Cattaneo said Monday that he does not see energy prices in Italy dropping any time soon, adding that the fact Italy does not have nuclear power is a factor.
    "'I don't think we can expect big changes in energy prices in Italy,' he said during the Capital Markets Day in Milan after Enel presented its 2025-27 strategic plan.
    "In Italy we have a structural problem - we aren't increasing generation but we are increasing consumption.
    "And, unlike France, we do not have nuclear power".
    Italy abandoned its nuclear power programme in 1987 following a referendum after the Chernobyl disaster.
    But Premier Giorgia Meloni's government wants to see a return to atomic energy and its plan for the Green transition features a mixture of renewable sources, including 10% nuclear, which officials have said will come through smaller latest generation reactors built by the private sector.
    Despite this, Enel's new strategic plan does not feature nuclear.
    "It takes years to build nuclear power plants, at least 10, many more years than those covered by this plan,' Cattaneo said. "Nuclear power is not included in this plan and we will probably not put it in the next plan either".
    (see related). (ANSA).