The Italian government on Tuesday issued an emergency plan against a cold snap that has led to increased energy consumption amid gas cuts from Russia.
The government decree will reopen power plants that were closed down two years ago because of environmental concerns about their fuel.
The government also recommended a one-degree drop in central-heating temperatures, plus a one-hour reduction in heating times, in public and private buildings. The latter measures will have to be approved by local energy boards.
Industry Minister Claudio Scajola said companies would pay for the plan but "there might be a small rise in power bills."
He said the plan would be reviewed on February 1.
The measures - attacked by environmental groups as "useless and damaging" - came on the coldest day in the latest snap.
Two people were found dead from exposure near Bologna as temperatures plummeted around the country - as low as -31 C
in the Dolomites and from -6 C to -2 C in the big cities. ENI, the national fuels company, said gas supplies from Russia were 8% down for the the day - a deeper fall than on previous days.
ENI CEO Paolo Scaroni said Italy can expect problems importing sufficient natural gas at least for the next two years.
Italy this month has had to deal with repeated reductions in gas supplies from Russia because of that country's need to meet a surge in domestic demand due to a severe cold snap, and because of a political flap between Moscow and Ukraine. Moscow and Kiev locked horns over Russia's decision to hike prices, to which Ukraine responded by allegedly siphoning off gas heading to Europe when its supplies were cut back.
Although supply cutbacks from Russia are normal during the winter, Scaroni said that because of this year's extraordinary circumstances Italy is likely to tap into its strategic reserves by mid-February, "much earlier than last year".
The situation has been made worse by a particularly harsh January with more cold weather into the next month. In order to meet current demand, ENI has paid even twice as much for gas than what it charges, he added. "This has cost us an extra 40 million euros and shows that ENI is doing its part," the CEO said.
Despite the reduction in gas reaching Italy from Russia, Scaroni said he did not see an immediate problems for home consumers.
According to some dieticians, Italians would actually benefit from lowering the temperatures in their homes because they could burn off excess fat to keep their bodies at a steady 37C degrees.
Experts have said that, paradoxically, Italy is shooting itself in the foot because it uses much of the gas it imports to produce electricity for export. Some are now advocating that more of that power should stay inside Italy.
Consumer groups meanwhile criticised ventilated plans to limit domestic heating, saying "all measures against end users should be avoided."
They said the government should concentrate on boosting supplies from Algeria and other countries as an alternative to Russia.
Italy gets just over a third of its gas from Algeria and just under a third from Russia. Other suppliers include Norway and Libya.
Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti meanwhile joined Industry Minister Scajola in saying Italy, which is heavily dependant on overseas gas, oil and electricity, "now has no alternative to nuclear power."
He noted that Italy's neighbour France - from which Italy imported electricity until this week - is 75%-powered by nuclear energy. Italy's nuclear power stations were closed down in the mid-1980s after a post-Chernobyl referendum and the subject
of reopening them has remained largely taboo.
Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Scajola have repeatedly hinted at reopening the question.
But Tremonti's statement was the strongest in recent days.
However, an expected outburst of indignation from the centre-left opposition and Greens did not materialise.
Meanwhile the national farmers association told consumers it was OK to eat "10-20" more calories during the cold snap, which is expected to last another ten days. The national paediatricians association told parents to keep kids indoors as much as possible and wrap them up "in onion-like layers" if they ventured outdoors.
Many local councils across Italy have already reacted to the gas crisis by turning down the heat in their buildings.
According to reports out of the Vatican on Tuesday, Pope Bendict XVI is still enjoying his customary degree of warmth.
