Brussels, 03/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On 3 October, the European Commission authorised the prolongation until 2015 of an Italian scheme which remunerates companies for the provision of instant interruptibility services in Italy's largest islands, Sardinia and Sicily. Instant interruptibility services are typically provided by large electricity consumers, which agree to accept cuts in their electricity supply without prior notice by the transmission system operator. The Commission found that despite investment to increase electricity supplies, the services are still needed and are still remunerated at market value (being set by tender). The mechanism therefore does not constitute state aid under EU rules. However, this finding is based on the current market situation and is therefore limited until the end of 2015. The implementing mechanism of the scheme will remain unchanged. The transmission system operator will auction 500MW of interruptible capacity for each island, allowing for the participation of operators with a minimum consumption threshold equal to at least 1MW baseload. (FG/transl.fl)