Consolidated external costs

In 2023, the Group’s consolidated external costs totalled about €2.94 billion (-17.4% compared to 2022). The change was due to a decrease in costs associated with obtaining electricity and gas on the free market and protected market, offset by the increase in costs for services and tenders, substantially for energy effciency and smart services projects.

Procurement of goods, services and works relative to Group companies subject to reporting is managed at a central level¹¹⁵ by the parent company's Procurement & Material Management function, with the exceptions of Gori, AdF, Gesesa and Deco, which independently manage this aspect. The total value of ordered goods, services and works recorded in 2023, including the amounts of the aforesaid non-centrally managed companies¹¹⁶, was stable at around €1.9 billion, with a slight decrease of 0.6% with respect to the 2022 figure. Regarding the centrally managed companies, the value of 2023 procurement was approximately €1.5 billion, also in line with the 2022 figure.

115 For the NFS scope, see Disclosing sustainability: methodological note. With reference to this scope, the water companies Gori, AdF and Gesesa, the environment companies Berg, Demap, Deco and Ecologica Sangro (the latter in the NFS scope from 2023) and the companies operating in PV (with the exception of Acea Solar) are not centrally managed.
116 The data of the three companies operating in the water sector that manage procurement activities independentl yand of Deco are aggregated here with those managed centrally in order to represent overall relations with suppliers in the year under review. The figures for Berg, Demap and Ecologica Sangro and the photovoltaic companies (with the exception of Acea Solar) have not been included, as these companies recorded very low costs for materials and services during the year, equal to 1.6% of those incurred by the companies in the NFS scope and 1.2% of those incurred by the companies consolidated on a line by line basis.