The current heat wave in Italy sent power consumption to a record high for the year on Wednesday and close to the all-time record set almost exactly a year ago, sector sources said.
At noon, the sources added, Italy consumed 54,000MW of electricity in order to power air conditioners, refrigerators and fans.
The all-time record was set on June 26, 2006 when power consumption hit 55,600MW.
At 2pm on Tuesday it was 33 degrees C in Rome, 31 in Milan, 34 in Florence and 33 in Naples.
Temperatures are expected to remain above seasonal levels on Thursday to then dip slightly in the north on Friday, while remaining stationary elsewhere.
According to the director of the National Research Council's meteorological institute in Florence, Giampiero Maracchi, this summer will not be like the scorching one in 2003 which left thousands dead across Europe.
"The climate has not gone mad, it has just changed and it will change even more in the years to come," he said.
"It will probably get worse in the future because this is the global trend. Still there are ways to deal with the heat in a reasonable and intelligent way," he added.
Looking ahead to the next three months, Maracchi said Italy can expect a fairly normal summer but with three or four brief but intense heat waves.
July will be hot and August should sees variable conditions with some storms, while the major heat could return towards the end of the summer, the expert predicted.
