(Finance) – For the first time in Italy, the water service was measured and judged, attributing bonuses and penalties to the managers, for results achieved and consolidated in 2018 and 2019. The ranking was published by Arera, the Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment with the resolution that concludes the first two years of application of the incentive mechanism. The 66 most important positions (the first 3 classified – for each indicator and overall – in the years 2018 and 2019, for the Advanced and Excellence assessment levels) are occupied overall by 26 managers.
The awards – reads the official note – are concentrated in the North of the country (21 podiums for the North West and 24 for the North East), followed by the Center (with 18 podiums). Only 3 positions on the podium are occupied by managements located in the South and Islands geographic area, confirming the water divide to be compensated, also through incentive mechanisms.
Water losses, service interruptions, quality of water supplied, adequacy of the sewage system, quality of purified water and sludge disposal, are the 6 macro-indicators on the basis of which each of the water service operators was analyzed and classified (for the first two years the issue of interruptions was excluded from the incentive mechanism). The complex system of data analysis made it possible to codify the results achieved in recent years by 203 managers, which altogether cover 84% of the national population.
By analyzing the data received up to 17 July 2020, the Authority was able to assign a prize to those who have achieved, maintained and improved the set objectives and a penalty to others. The amount of resources dedicated to bonuses for 2018 amounts to approximately 63.2 million euros and for 2019 approximately 72.16 million euros. The corresponding penalties are 3.9 million for 2018 and 5.9 million for 2019.