The site-specific nature of renewable sources, the need to involve citizens in the energy-planning process and the perspective of local governments, who are the first governmental stakeholders involved in the implementation of energy-saving initiatives, has recently emphasised the strategic role played by municipalities in the energy-planning process. The present paper discusses the role of municipal planning in the context of the regional energy-planning process based on the of results derived from 12 municipal energy plans developed for urban areas located in Marche Region, in the centre of Italy, whose inhabitants represent approximately 40% of the whole region. Five years after the approval of the Regional Energy Master Plan, REMP, the analysis of 12 municipal energy plans represents an important opportunity to gather feedback on the main regional policy initiatives defined by the REMP, attempting to understand the main obstacles to their development and understand the role played by municipal energy planning. Primary energy savings, relative carbon dioxide emission reductions and the costs of the initiatives studied by the municipal energy plans have been discussed to quantify the contribution of municipalities for the fulfilment of the regional targets, providing terms of comparison for other geographic areas. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.