What is the AD-1 consumption declaration?

The AD-1 declaration is the electronic form power plant operators use to report production, purchase, and consumption data for excise purposes to the Italian Customs Agency (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli, ADM), as required by Art. 53 of the Italian Excise Code (Testo Unico delle Accise, D.Lgs. 504/1995).

Who must file the AD-1 declaration?

The obligation applies to renewable-source producers with available power (potenza disponibile) above 20 kW, non-renewable producers of any size, own-use purchasers holding an ADM authorization, and electricity distributors-sellers. Renewable plants at or below 20 kW that fully self-consume their output are not subject to excise (Art. 52(2)(a) TUA): they stay outside the scope, with no licence and no AD-1. That is a different thing from the exemption in Art. 52(3)(b) TUA, which presupposes a power plant and a declaration.

What are the AD-1 deadlines in 2026?

From 2026, filings are semi-annual: H1 (January to June) is due by September 30, 2026; H2 (July to December) is due by March 31, 2027. Legal references: D.Lgs. 43/2025 and the Ministerial Decree of March 10, 2026.

How is electricity excise calculated?

You apply the national rate (in EUR/MWh, Art. 52 TUA) to taxable consumption, then subtract any advance payments already made. The national rate is the whole duty: no regional, provincial, or municipal surcharge applies to electricity in Italy, since all of them were abolished in 2012. Rates differ by user type (domestic vs. non-domestic) and by consumption brackets.

Which AD-1 quadri must I complete?

It depends entirely on your declarant category (figura dichiarante). A renewable producer above 20 kW in exempt self-consumption files a reduced set: A (production meter readings), G (outflows by type) and L (exempt consumption). A non-renewable production plant in own use files A, B, C, E, G, J, L, M, P, Q plus the suppliers list. None of the quadri carries the plant's identifying data: that belongs to the power plant notice under Art. 53-bis(1) TUA.

How is the AD-1 declaration filed with ADM?

Filing is electronic only, via the ADM AIDA system in U2S (User-to-System) mode or via an enabled portal in S2S (System-to-System) mode, signed with a qualified digital signature.

Complete Guide to the AD-1 Declaration: Quadri, Deadlines and Excise Calculation

The AD-1 declaration (Modello AD-1, Dichiarazione di Consumo) is the mandatory filing that power plant operators in Italy submit to the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli (ADM, the Italian Customs Agency). It reports electricity consumed or sold during the reference period and sets the excise duty (accisa) due under Arts. 52 to 54 of the Testo Unico delle Accise (TUA, D.Lgs. 504/1995 as amended by D.Lgs. 43/2025).

From 2026, after the reform introduced by D.Lgs. 43/2025, declarations are semi-annual: H1 (January to June, due September 30) and H2 (July to December, due March 31 of the following year). Filing is electronic only, via the S2S (System-to-System) or U2S (User-to-System) channel. Renewable plants with available power (potenza disponibile) at or below 20 kW that fully self-consume their output sit outside the scope of excise duty and carry no AD-1 filing obligation.

Quick definitions

AD-1 declaration: The ADM electronic form for reporting electricity production, purchase, and consumption data for excise purposes (Art. 53 TUA).
Power plant (officina elettrica): A facility that produces or transforms electricity for consumption and is subject to an ADM license or authorization.
Declarant category (figura dichiarante): The legal category of the obligated party (8 categories under Arts. 52 to 54 TUA); it determines which AD-1 quadri must be completed.
Quadro: A lettered section of the AD-1 form (A to Q) that captures meter readings, energy flows, consumption by tax status, or the excise settlement.
20 kW threshold: The available power (potenza disponibile) at or below which a self-consuming renewable plant falls outside the scope of excise duty. It is a connection-side figure, not the DC peak rating of photovoltaic modules.
Semi-annual cadence (cadenza semestrale): The filing frequency introduced by D.Lgs. 43/2025: H1 due by September 30, H2 due by March 31 of the following year.
S2S / U2S: The ADM electronic filing channels: System-to-System (enabled portals) and User-to-System (manual entry via AIDA).
National excise rate (aliquota nazionale): The state excise in EUR/MWh set by Art. 52 TUA; applied to taxable consumption.

Who must file an AD-1 declaration?

The obligation applies to every operator of a officina elettrica (power plant), a fiscal-legal concept defined in Art. 53 TUA. A power plant exists when:

You produce electricity from a renewable source with available power above 20 kW (photovoltaic, wind, hydro), or from a non-renewable source of any size (cogeneration, generators, etc.)
You purchase electricity to sell or distribute to third parties
You consume electricity you purchase or produce for your own use

Renewable-source plants with available power at or below 20 kW whose output is fully self-consumed by the producer are not subject to excise duty under Art. 52(2)(a) TUA: they fall outside the scope entirely, so no licence and no AD-1 filing are due. Above 20 kW the self-consumed share is instead exempt under Art. 52(3)(b) TUA, which is a different status: the power plant and the AD-1 filing are both mandatory.

The quadri of the AD-1 form

The AD-1 form is split into quadri (lettered sections). Not all quadri are mandatory for every operator; the required set depends on your declarant category (figura dichiarante) under Arts. 52 to 54 TUA. Note what is notin them: the plant's location, type and capacity in kW are declared in the power plant notice under Art. 53-bis(1) TUA, and the declarant is identified in the cover sheet (frontespizio). Quadri A to E are fiscal measurement quadri: they carry meter rows, not master data.

Quadro	Content	Typically required for
A	Production: readings from the fiscal production meters (serial number, current and previous reading, difference, reading constant, kWh)	Producers, self-producers
B	Electricity purchased, by meter	Own-use purchasers, mixed setups
C	Breakdown of own consumption	Self-producers, own-use purchasers
E	Metered transfers (cessioni) to other power plants or to the grid	Producers with transfers out
G	Outflows by type: grid injection, supply to another power plant, transmission, release from storage	Producers, network operators
H	Energy received	Purchasers, distributors
I	Sales by type, with the client list	Sellers, resellers
J, L, M	Consumption split by tax status: J out of scope, L exempt, M taxable	All liable operators, in the combination that applies
K	Billing corrections spanning earlier periods	Sellers, resellers
P, Q	Excise settlement by territorial area (ambito) and summary of the balance	Every operator with tax to settle

Excise rate calculation under Art. 52 TUA

Electricity excise in Italy applies in brackets by monthly consumption band and use type. The national rates (Art. 52 TUA) are:

Domestic use, up to 150 kWh/month: exempt
Domestic use, 151 to 220 kWh/month: €0.0227/kWh
Domestic use, above 220 kWh/month: €0.0227/kWh (taxed at the full rate)
Non-domestic use: €0.0125/kWh
Industrial use above 1.2 GWh/month: €0.00125/kWh (reduced rate)

No surcharge applies on top of these rates. The local surcharges on electricity (addizionali) were abolished in 2012 and have not been replaced. The municipal surcharge went first, under Art. 2, paragraph 6, D.Lgs. 23/2011, with effect from January 1, 2012. The provincial surcharge was suppressed from the same date in ordinary-statute regions by Art. 18, paragraph 5, D.Lgs. 68/2011; the revenue passed to the State and the national rate was raised to compensate (DM 30 December 2011). Art. 4, paragraph 10, DL 16/2012 then abrogated Art. 6 DL 511/1988 outright from April 1, 2012, which closed the point for the special-statute regions and the Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano. Constitutional Court judgment no. 43/2025 of April 15, 2025 struck down Art. 6, paragraph 1, letter c, and paragraph 2, DL 511/1988 for conflict with Art. 1, paragraph 2, of Directive 2008/118/EC, with retroactive effect.

The practical consequence: if a surcharge line still appears on an electricity declaration, that declaration overstates the duty due and the operator is paying tax it does not owe. A regional surcharge survives only for natural gas, which falls outside the AD-1 electricity return entirely. Art. 60 TUA is often cited here, but it sets scope and procedure only and imposes no levy of its own. Deklara applies the Art. 52 national rate alone to each kWh bracket you declare.

How to submit: U2S vs. S2S

Two submission channels are available:

U2S (User to System): manual entry through the ADM reserved-area portal. Slow and error-prone for multi-plant operators.
S2S (System to System): automated submission via web service, signed with a qualified digital signature (firma digitale). Deklara handles S2S submission directly.

Common errors to avoid

Wrong declarant category: the wrong category leads to wrong quadri selection and, often, an incorrect excise calculation. Verify your category against Arts. 52 to 54 TUA before every filing period.
Missing meter reading at period close: with semi-annual declarations, you need a meter reading on June 30 in addition to December 31. Without it, H1 figures are estimates rather than actuals.
Incorrect excise bracket assignment: mixed-use consumption (e.g., domestic plus non-domestic on the same supply point) must be split correctly by use type before you apply rates.
Late filing: the H1 deadline is September 30, a summer date that catches operators off guard. Set reminders well in advance.