Good news arriving for the pockets of Italian families, or rather for those of the protected market. The bills of light will see a drop "more than 20%", as to the gas there will be a cut but not to the same extent, "something around 10%". Thus the president of the Arera Stefano Besseghini confirmed the cut for users of the protected market. Forecasts that "if they are confirmed - Codacons estimates - would lead to savings of 408 euros per year per family compared to the prices in force today".
The Meloni government with the new Bills decree it has kept some aid – social bonus, 5% VAT on gas – but has not renewed others, such as the much-discussed system charges on electricity, which are included in the bill. Overall Arera expects lighter bills from next month. The electricity tariff for the protected market will be announced by the authority today, Thursday 30 March, while that of gas on Tuesday 4 April.
Electricity and gas bills falling: by how much?
The president of the regulatory authority for energy, networks and the environment specified that "the offices are completing the accounts also in the light of yesterday's decree". For the quarter January March the drop communicated at the end of December was 19,5%. On gas, "we are at the end of the month, so with the price trend now defined, it would be reasonable to expect something around 10% because the most important change occurred in the previous two months": -34,2% in January and -13% in February. “So that now I can recover much more than that seems difficult to me,” Besseghini observed.
Electricity and gas: savings on bills according to consumer estimates
“If Arera's forecasts are confirmed, the reduction in electricity and gas tariffs would lead to a saving for 408 euros per year per family compared to the prices in force today”. According to Codacons calculations, the electricity bill would go from 1.434 euros per year to 1.147 euros, with a saving of 287 euros per family. That of gas, estimates the consumers' association, “would drop from the current 1.210 euros per unit to 1.089 euros, with a lower cost of 121 euros”.
Ma is not sufficient for the head of the energy sector of the National Consumer Union, Marco Vignola: "If the government had confirmed all of Draghi's measures, families would have had a gas bill that was 459 euros lower on an annual basis, 298 euros if the government repented , maintaining for at least a year the 35% discount on charges, now only available until April". As for the light, "even if a substantial reduction in invoices is looming tomorrow, it is clear that the restoration of charges, if it were equal to the pre-crisis one of the second quarter of 2021, still implies an additional tax equal to 124 euros on an annual basis for a typical family in guardianship”.
The return of system charges
After the Government's go-ahead for the bills decree, Besseghini evaluates the provision "positively because it confirms attention for vulnerable consumers who have been the subject of specific attention since the beginning of the crisis, in fact their tariffs have been frozen for almost a year and a half, with a not negligible effort. Then, on the fact that part of the electricity system charges is recovered at a time when we are getting closer to a more normal situation, it makes sense to modulate them, even those are costs that are incurred" and this "creates space for subsequent interventions when should it be needed". Therefore it is inevitable that “part of the decrease will be eaten with the restoration of system charges“, concluded the president of the arena. But how much do system charges weigh on the bill? About 20% of the annual cost for electricity and about 4% for gas.
Electricity and gas bills falling: how is the price of gas going?
The TTF index of the Amsterdam stock exchange, the main reference for the formation of gas prices in Europe, is around 42 euros per megawatt hour.
Il gas price it has now been declining for months, far from the peak in August (340 euros per megawatt hour). But, it must be said, even from the lows of recent years, when it was quoted at around 20 euros per megawatt hour. Meanwhile, however, since August gas has lost as much as 85% of its value thanks to the mild winter which has made it possible to reduce gas consumption and keep stocks full compared to a "normal" winter season.
