(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 8 - As many as a third of Italians may be unable to pay their utility bills by Christmas because of soaring energy prices, Italy's Coop group said in its annual report on Thursday.
    The report said 57% of the people surveyed said they were having trouble paying the rent, with 26% considering delaying or stopping payments.
    It said 68% of Italians had embarked on a 'spending review' and another 17% plan to assess their spending in the autumn.
    It said many citizens had already started a sort of self-imposed austerity, both for major expenditure such as for a car or a new home, and for everyday spending.
    The Confartigianato business association, meanwhile, said on Thursday that high energy prices pose a threat to 881,264 small enterprises employing 3.529 million people in Italy.
    The association representing artisans and small artisan businesses said it had analysed the impact of the "crazy" rise in gas and electricity prices on 43 sectors.
    Confartigianato President Marco Granelli said there was the risk of a "massacre" of businesses.
    The region worst at risk is Lombardy, with 139,000 enterprises employing 751,000 people in peril.
    The Ecological Transition Ministry on Tuesday published new regulations aimed at saving energy in view of the possibility that Russia could shut off gas supplies permanently.
    The regulations foresee the maximum temperature of heating this winter being cut by 1°C, to 17° for residential and industrial buildings, with a 2° tolerance margin, and 19° for other buildings. Certain buildings, such as hospitals and care homes, are exempt.
    The period which buildings are allowed to use heating has also been cut by 15 days - they will be turned on eight days later and turned off seven days earlier. (ANSA).