From energy prices to operating costs: optimization strategies for businesses

In 2026, the European energy market continues to be affected by gas availability, price volatility and geopolitical tensions that are reshaping the balance of supply. With reduced supplies from Russia, Europe has increased its reliance on alternative sources, particularly liquefied natural gas (LNG). According to the European Commission, in 2025 LNG accounted for 45% of Europe's gas imports, up from 20% in 2021.

For energy-intensive businesses, this dynamic increases uncertainty around energy spending and makes it more important to act on the factors that determine cost. Beyond the market price, plant efficiency, asset management and the use of self-generated energy also affect the final cost and represent concrete levers companies can use to reduce their exposure to market volatility.

How electricity prices are formed in Europe

Wholesale electricity prices result from the interaction between supply and demand. In the Day-Ahead Market, power plants are selected according to a merit order based on marginal cost, i.e. the cost of producing one additional unit of energy.

Renewable sources such as solar, wind and hydropower generally have low marginal costs and are therefore used first whenever their availability allows. Plants with higher marginal costs, including gas-fired ones, can be activated to cover residual demand.

In this mechanism, the marginal price is set by the last plant needed to meet demand. As a result, when gas-fired plants are the ones covering residual demand, fuel costs can have a significant influence on the price of electricity.

Interconnection capacity between different areas of the power system also affects price formation. When the grid allows energy to be transferred from one zone to another, reliance on more expensive plants can be reduced. When transmission capacity is saturated, however, prices can diverge between different market zones.

From the PUN to zonal prices: why market granularity matters for Italian businesses

The Italian electricity market has introduced changes that make it increasingly important to understand when and where energy is purchased and consumed.

Until 2024, the main national reference for electricity prices was the PUN (Single National Price), which expressed in a single value the price of energy traded on the Day-Ahead Market (MGP).

Since 1 January 2025, the Day-Ahead Market has used zonal prices, determined by demand, supply and grid conditions in each area. The PUN Index GME still serves as a national reference, calculated as a weighted average of zonal prices based on the quantities purchased in each zone.

Since 30 September 2025, the European Day-Ahead Market has also operated with 15-minute granularity, with prices set every quarter hour instead of every hour. For businesses, the point is not just knowing the average price of energy, but understanding how their own consumption profile is distributed over time. Greater price granularity makes it more important to be able to identify loads, recognise moments of greatest exposure and assess which consumption can be optimised or shifted.

Where to act to reduce energy spending

Reducing energy spending does not necessarily mean acting on the purchase price. A company can work on several dimensions of its energy system: how much it consumes, how it buys energy, when it uses it, and how it makes the most of the sources available to it.

The starting point is an integrated reading of the energy profile. The load curve makes it possible to analyse how consumption is distributed over time and to identify peaks, persistent loads and possible room for load shifting. Specific consumption, on the other hand, links the energy used to production output and helps distinguish a variation due to volumes from a change in energy performance.

This analysis makes it possible to identify four main optimisation levers:

• 1. Procurement

  The wholesale price is only one component of energy spending. The final cost also depends on the contract structure, the reference index, the spread applied by the supplier, the fees involved and how energy is drawn from the grid.

  The choice between a fixed and an indexed price should therefore be evaluated in relation to the consumption profile, the predictability of demand and the company's tolerance for volatility. A contract can offer greater spending predictability, but it is not automatically more cost-effective under every market condition.

  Analysing historical consumption data and its distribution over time makes it possible to assess how consistent the procurement structure is with the way the company actually uses energy.

• 2. Energy efficiency

  Energy efficiency acts on the amount of energy needed to achieve a given production output. Improving asset performance, reducing no-load consumption and correcting operational anomalies makes it possible to contain energy needs without necessarily changing production levels.

  Analysing energy data, especially when linked to process parameters and equipment status, makes it possible to identify idle and standby consumption, performance below expected conditions, and abnormal variations in the ratio between energy used and output. Addressing these inefficiencies means reducing the amount of purchased or self-generated energy the processes require.

  For this reason, asset efficiency is a structural cost-reduction lever: it acts on demand itself, regardless of the market price or the supply contract.

• 3. Demand flexibility

  Energy efficiency reduces the amount of energy needed; demand flexibility, on the other hand, acts on when that energy is used.

  Depending on the characteristics of the process, some loads can be modulated or shifted in time without changing production output. This ability makes it possible to reduce exposure to higher-price periods and, in some contexts, to turn flexibility itself into an energy resource with market value.

  Assessing this lever requires knowing the time distribution of consumption, the power required by individual loads and the operational constraints that limit their modulation. The shift to greater price granularity over time makes this analysis even more relevant: flexibility can only be monetised when the energy profile is sufficiently well known and predictable.

• 4. Self-consumption and storage

  Renewable generation and electricity demand do not necessarily coincide in time. A BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) can help manage this mismatch by storing excess available energy and making it usable at a later time. This can increase the self-consumption rate and reduce reliance on energy purchased from the grid.

Charging and discharging can also follow optimisation logic that considers consumption, solar generation, battery state of charge and price signals simultaneously. Depending on system goals and constraints, this logic can support peak-shaving strategies, reduce grid draw during the most expensive periods, and make better use of self-generated energy. The economic benefit of a storage system therefore depends not only on installed capacity, but on the quality of its management and how well consumption, generation and market conditions are aligned.

From price management to integrated energy management

When consumption, generation, assets and market conditions are analysed separately, it becomes difficult to assess which lever has the greatest impact on energy costs. An Energy Management System (EMS) makes it possible to integrate this information and build a more complete view of a company's energy system.

An EMS collects and centralises data from meters, plants, production systems and operational sources, linking it to energy KPIs and process variables. This data foundation makes it possible to analyse consumption over time, compare performance, identify deviations and assess the relationship between energy used, operating conditions and costs. When it also integrates market prices, renewable generation and BESS data, the EMS can support more strategic and complex decisions, such as: how much energy needs to be purchased and when is it best to use it? Which consumption can be optimised, and how can the available resources be made the most of?

The value, therefore, lies not just in monitoring, but in the ability to turn energy and operational data into information useful for procurement, efficiency, flexibility and asset management decisions.

A single view to manage consumption, assets and energy costs

Turning this vision into concrete results requires technology to be paired with the ability to interpret data and assess its operational and economic implications. Choosing a procurement strategy, identifying an efficiency measure, or managing a storage system all require a combined reading of energy performance, operating conditions and market dynamics.

Veil Energy supports companies on this path, combining the energy expertise of its own energy experts (EGE-certified) with E-BOOST technology, the EMS that centralises energy data, plant performance and production processes, integrating with the systems already in place at the company.

The goal is to support companies in translating energy data into operational insights that improve cost control, identify optimisation opportunities and build a more informed and resilient approach to energy management. Want to understand which levers could reduce your company's energy costs?