Due to the increase in commodity quotations, in the second quarter of 2021 the price of the bills will be more expensive: +3,8% for electricity and +3,9% for gas. This was reported by Arera, the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment.
ANNUAL BALANCE
However, the rise in April should not mislead. Despite the new increase, in terms of impact on our wallets, for electricity in one year (from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021), a typical family will spend 517 euros (-0,7% compared to the previous year) , while for gas the cost will be 966 euros (-5,2%), with annual savings of 4 and 52 euros respectively. The total annual savings will therefore be 56 euros. If we then went to check the electricity and gas price graph, we would see that they are roughly stable with the exception of 2020, the year of the Covid lockdown, when prices collapsed together with consumption.
Quarter
Going back to the April-May-June quarter, "as regards the update of the prices of protection services, the increases are substantially linked to the price growth trend of the main energy commodities, which characterized the last months of 2020 and above all the first quarter of 2021 ", reports Arera. In detail, for natural gas (+3,9% in the bill), the spot price in the first quarter of 2021 stood at around 19 euro/MWh, with an increase of around 27% compared to the average level recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020, also due to the colder temperatures of last winter. The increase was also reflected in the forward quotations used for price updates, which increased by 17% in the second quarter compared to the previous three months. Switching toelectricity (+3,8% in the bill), in the first quarter of 2021, the Single National Price of electricity (PUN ) was approximately 58 euro/MWh (+19% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020). The recent forward quotations for the second quarter of 2021 stand at the same price level.
DISCOUNTS ON THE BILL FOR SMEs
For small businesses, to mitigate the increases arriving in the second quarter of the year there will be the "bill cut" effect envisaged in the support decree. Arera lets it be known that it has approved the resolution implementing the discounts on bills envisaged by the measure. For SMEs (non-domestic low voltage users, such as small shops, artisans, bars, restaurants, laboratories, professionals and services), bills will be 600 million euros lighter. The discounts apply to a total of 3,7 million subjects and are worth around 70 euros per month for a customer with a 15 kW power contract. According to the Authority's calculations, the overall expense for businesses forced to close will be reduced by 70%, while for businesses that can remain open the savings will average between 20% and 30% of the total bill expense.
"The increase is driven by the strong appreciation of raw materials also influenced by expectations for an upcoming economic recovery, on which the markets are betting, now that the vaccination plans make the exit from the pandemic more concrete" - he says the president of Arera, Stefano Besseghini – "Supporting businesses in recent months is therefore a priority choice, with a strong social value also for families, for this reason the Authority has also immediately implemented the provision of the Support Decree and postponed the expected increase in general system costs, thanks the residual flexibility offered by the financial resources of the accounts managed by the CSEA".
