Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and new technology applications provide Hera’s operations with visible benefits, as a clear strategic design stands behind their adoption. More technology, then, to offer better services to customers, to enhance the resilience of assets, and, not least, to optimise the financial returns of the huge investments that Hera has planned to fuel growth in the right direction.  
In the 2024-2028 Business Plan presented in late January 2025, Hera Group included 1.3-billion-euro investments dedicated to innovation and digitalisation: a real driver for organic growth, which is expected to generate greater operational efficiency and consistently higher quality of customer service, with positive fall-out in terms of enhanced resilience and security of the Group’s infrastructure.

On the same day in which the Board of Directors approves the new Business Plan, Hera announces to the market the signing of the acquisition of an additional stake in the capital of AIMAG, multiutility based in the province of Modena. In return for a swap for water assets held in that same area, Hera can increase its share from 25% to 41%, appoint half of BoD members, including the CEO, and therefore consolidate AIMAG in full.  
Following the agreement to raise the holdings in AIMAG, therefore, more than 75% of the EBITDA that the new Plan estimates can be sourced from M&A for the 2024-2028 period already has a clear identity.

What will living conditions on Earth be like in the future? Everything depends on the choices being made as of today and how those commitments will be maintained over time.
Aware of this reality and of its role as an enabler of sustainability, last July Hera made a formal commitment to reach Net Zero in terms of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, being the first to have taken up that challenge among Italian multi-utilities.
The Group made this move by presenting an ambitious Climate Transition Plan, in which it aims to achieve a 90 per cent reduction in emissions by 2050 compared to 2019 and to remove all remaining emissions at the end of the decarbonisation path.

As of 1 July 2024, Hera started serving one million new customers in the electricity sector: these are High Protection customers who had not yet chosen an operator on the liberalised energy market and switched to a Gradual Protection Service – a temporary service that will last till 31 March 2027 to accompany users toward full market liberalisation. At the beginning of the year, Hera won the highest number of achievable lots in the Protection Service tender, becoming the player that has mostly increased its customer base through the process.
The acquisition of those new customers represents a milestone in the development path of the Energy area envisaged in the Business Plan to 2027…

In line with the evolving context, Hera has identified a new leadership model that it is now rolling out across the entire corporate population. Born from listening to the 10,000 people who work in the Group, the model is enriched by the use of a Generative Artificial Intelligence app, which evaluates behaviours in everyday life and allows practising those same behaviours by improving them according to feedback from reality.
At the heart of the new leadership model is the belief that the more people find an alignment between the purpose of what they do and the purpose of the Company, the more confident Hera will be in the successful execution of its strategy.

With a win-win approach, Hera has long chosen to strategically position increasing EBITDA shares in activities that contribute to strengthening the Group’s margins while offering tangible social and environmental benefits. Following this pioneering vision, Hera dedicated 2.5 billion investments to initiatives with higher impact and visible returns.

The significant results achieved – recognised by the ESG rating agencies as proven by its inclusion in prestigious sustainability indices – have made Hera an attractive reality in which specialised funds can invest.

The new 2023-2027 Plan envisages a significant acceleration of growth compared to the previous Plan, whose horizon was 2026. The engine behind more dynamic development lies in higher investments planned over the five-year period. The EBITDA drivers take shape through the number of funds invested, but even through the quality of the selected projects, which offer more attractive returns, and the efficiencies Hera aims to gain in regulated businesses.

Cash conversion of EBITDA is very high: this allows more operating investments, M&A and dividend distribution to be financed, while keeping the leverage at the end of the Plan at an even more conservative level compared to that of the previous Plan.

Water is the most important resource on Earth. An essential resource to avoid social, political, and economic crisis. However, due to Climate Change, it is destined to become increasingly scarce while its demand is increasing, driven by continued population growth, further industrialisation, and more intensive use in agriculture. Such a structural deficit of supply over demand creates investment opportunities that the national Regulators tend to promote.
In Italy, Hera boasts a strong position in the integrated water cycle, being the second largest operator and the first in terms of service quality. A status that the Group has built with 2.5 billion euro of investments over the last 20 years…

In the coming years, Hera will continue to play a proactive role in the energy transition process, not only through responsible management of operations, but also by encouraging more sustainable consumption by its customers. The way forward will consist of leveraging the solid reputation that the Group has built in providing energy and value-added services.
The new scenarios provide Hera with a great opportunity: to ride the demand for greater environmental and economic sustainability of energy consumption, in line with what policy makers and customers themselves are asking for, both in the business and retail segments.

The AGM held on 27 April was a major event. Hera was one of the few Italian listed companies that again allowed its shareholders to be physically present at “Spazio Hera”, where the Meeting took place, even though this year, following the measures to avoid the pandemic, it was still possible to adopt a virtual format, with the vote expressed exclusively by proxy.
Promotion of a genuine and direct shareholder participation in the decisions on the Company’s life and future reveals a spirit reflected in all aspects of Hera’s history: from its commitment to the value creation for all stakeholders – trustfully executed, as 2022 results prove – to the way governance takes shape.
This year, shareholders have also appointed a total of 15 Directors, who will lead Hera over the next three years, demonstrating to embrace the previous Board of Directors’ guidance on the composition of the new administrative body.