As anticipated from Mario Draghi to the assembly of Confindustria, Thursday evening the Council of Ministers approved a decree to limit increases in electricity and gas bills coming from October (on average +40% and +30% respectively). Discounts are coming for families (the social bonus is growing) and businesses. For the next three months alone, system charges will be eliminated from electricity bills for 29 million domestic customers and 6 million small businesses with meters up to 16,5 kW. The same is expected for gas. The maneuver is worth 3,4 billion euros, resources that will be used for the quarter October-December 2021.
LIGHT AND GAS: BONUS INCREASES, VAT DECREASES, SYSTEM CHARGES AWAY
In detail, just under two and a half billion will be used to reduce fixed costs: two billion for eliminate general system costs in the electricity sector and 480 million for reduce overhead charges on your gas bill. The system charges on the electricity bill will be compensated for 700 million with the proceeds of the CO2 auctions and with the transfer of 1,3 billion to the Fund for energy and environmental services.
Furthermore, VAT on natural gas it drops to 5% for households and businesses (today it is 10 or 22%, depending on consumption).
A particular section of the decree concerns who benefits from the social bonus. This is 3 million households for the electric bonus and 2,5 million families for the gas bonus: "For them - writes the Presidency of the Council - the effects of the future increase in the bill tend to be eliminated". The list of beneficiaries could increase if other families ask for the bonuses in the coming months. To qualify, you must fall into one of these categories:
- households with an ISEE of less than 8.265 euros a year;
- large families (those with at least four children and an ISEE not exceeding 20 euros per year);
- recipients of income or citizen's pension;
- users in serious health conditions.
The additional resources allocated for the social bonus in the fourth quarter amount to 450 million euros.
ENERGY AUTHORITY: PRICES WILL REMAIN HIGH, THE DESCENT WILL BE SLOW
“It is easy to predict that the upward pressure on prices will continue in the immediate future and the medium-term forecasts today point to a very slow process of realignment to lower prices”. She said it on Friday morning Stefano Besseghini, president of the Energy Authority (Arera), presenting the institution's annual report in parliament.
"After the profound decline that characterized 2020 - he added - the activation of the economic recovery with the beginning of 2021, but above all the evidence of the effectiveness of the vaccination campaign, have led to a sharp acceleration in all raw material costs, with variations that within a few months have projected them decisively towards historical highs”.
To partly contain the increases in bills, Besseghini reiterated a historical proposal of the Authority: “The progressive transfer of general system charges to general taxation".
Alongside this, Besseghini suggests “permanently allocating a share of the revenue to the growth of CO2 auctions to the reduction of general costs of system".
Interventions of this type are all the more necessary because "the energy transition, even if accepted and shared – the number one of the Arera said again – risks placing us in front of extra-costs that could have a greater impact on the weakest categories".
As for specifically the gas, according to Basseghini the Tap “it has proven to be an effective tool for containing the price differential that historically characterized TTF and PSV. And also the entry into operation of the North Stream 2 it will have repercussions on the price dynamics that analysts and forwards discount starting from the second quarter of next year".
The President of the Authority then said that "Italy can no longer afford to accumulate delays in identifying the site for the construction of a national radioactive waste repository".
Finally, in the water sector "the planned investment needs, including the availability of public funds, amount to 15,5 billion euros for the period 2020-2023, approximately 3,9 billion euros a year - concluded Basseghini - denoting a significant increase compared to the annual investment expenditure close to one billion euro in 2012, the year in which the water regulation by the Authority began”.
