The Acea business model

We manage the integrated water services, among the most essential for the life of citizens, in a transparent and efficient manner, preserving the natural resources and the territory during the entire water cycle. As the leading water services operator in Italy, we protect the water sources, verifying and ensuring that the water resource quality observes the regulatory standards throughout all phases of the water cycle, up to collection and treatment of the wastewater, to reclaim and return the resource to the environment in the same conditions in which it was withdrawn, in order for its natural cycle to resume. We aim to consolidate our leadership position by exploiting our know-how to further enhance water infrastructure resilience, technological innovation applied to the management and digitalisation of grid processes and the development of collection and treatment processes.

We believe that the circular economy is a means of creating value and one of the most effective levers for the future of the waste treatment business. This is why, within the environment business system, we are committed to waste recovery via the reduction of volumes and related treatment, the conversion into biogas and transformation into compost for agriculture and floriculture, waste-to-energy for energy generation, the recycling into materials that can be reutilised in production processes. In particular, we use integration as part of water activities to recover sewage sludge and send it to be treated for composting purposes. Our aim is to expand in this sector, increasing the volumes and management capacity and the types of material treated (paper, iron, wood, liquid waste, plastic and metals) via the acquisition of new companies.  

The purchase of commodities (energy and gas) takes place through trading on market platforms (power exchange), where resellers such as Acea Energia procure energy in order to supply customers according to their respective commercial policies. At Acea, we have built our relationships with customers by both improving the traditional means available – such as telephone communication and counter facilities – and developing contact channels that are increasingly innovative and digital. One area of incremental development concerns the creation of smart services, such as electric mobility, energy for smart residential buildings and home composting.

We produce energy at hydroelectric power plants, thermoelectric power (high performance cogeneration) facilities and photovoltaic plants. Acea is expanding its position in the solar power generation sector, also by way of partnerships, with a view to achieving an installed capacity of 750 MW in the medium term.

We are constantly committed to a resilient management of the electricity distribution network and the digital and innovative development of services, in order to cater for an increasingly advanced market that requires us to focus on smart city solutions.