Electricity and gas bills to increase from January 1st. The bad news for Italian families is that the increase is substantial, 5% for gas and 5,3% for electricity in the first quarter of the new year, and that while the increase in the former is physiological in winter (this winter has so far been rather cold), the increase in electricity was less expected, the increase in which is due to a series of concomitant factors. Translated into a nutshell, the total increase for a family with average consumption will be 59 euros per annum.
In the press release, the Authority for energy, gas and the water system identifies nine of them: in particular, the consumption recovery (+1,6%), with a consequent increase in demand in the first 11 months of 2017; there resumption of production activities, which has the parallel effect of a rise in wholesale prices; the prolonged unavailability of some French nuclear plants, with an increase in electricity prices on the transalpine market, which also influences the Italian market upwards and reduces the volumes imported from France.
There is also the climatic factor: hot and dry summer (2017 is the 'driest' year in the last 200 years) has drastically reduced the production of hydroelectric energy, inevitably replaced by the more expensive production of gas-fired plants. Furthermore, also the seasonal increase in wholesale gas prices at European level (and therefore also in Italy) which contributed to raising electricity prices.
Finally, it also weighs on domestic consumers (but not only) the increase in general system charges due to the strengthening of concessions for energy-intensive manufacturing industries, decided by decree of the Minister of Economic Development in implementation of the recent European law which implemented the go-ahead from the European Commission last spring to the adjustment plan prepared by the Italian government.
In detail, for electricity, the expenditure (before taxes) for the typical family in the rolling year (between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018) will be around 535 euros, with a change of +7,5% compared to the equivalent 12 months of the previous year (April 1, 2016 – March 31, 2017), corresponding to an increase of about 37 euros/year. During the same period the cost of the average family for the gas bill will be around 1.044 euros, with a variation of +2,1% compared to the equivalent 12 months of the previous year, corresponding to an increase of about 22 euros/year.
