From today, Monday 13 February Poste Energia is finally available, theelectricity and gas offer di Poste Italiane. After the many previews and indiscretions that have followed in recent months, Poste Italiane debuts on the free market with an offer that includes a fixed price with the installment that will be constant every month. The contract can be chosen only for electricity or only for gas or for both, it has an indefinite duration but the economic conditions remain blocked for two years with an intermediate step after 12 months. Most of the economic conditions are published on the place of Poste Italiane and will also be posted in the branches. And to understand if the proposal is worthwhile, the group led by Matthew Del Fante offers the possibility of making a comparison on its website: just enter the details of your bill to get a quote.
It will therefore be possible to know in advance how much you will pay, regardless of consumption. However, these will affect the amount for the following year with a mechanism based on the average of what was consumed in the previous year. As stated on the Poste website, "at the end of each year", the installment is recalculated, "both up and down, based on the consumption recorded". Those who have consumed less can decide “to reduce the installment for the following 12 months or receive the amount directly on their Postepay card or BancoPosta account”. Poste Italiane will not have variable price indexed offers, while as required by law, it will have thePlacet offer (Free Price with Equivalent Protection Conditions) which identifies those offers both for electricity and gas which are intermediate between the free market and the protected market and which comply with the conditions established by the Regulatory Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment. But let's see the details of Poste Italiane's new electricity and gas offer with no activation costs or security deposits.
Electricity and gas with Poste Italiane, where and how to make the contract
Access to the offers is only possible for those who already have a supplier: today it is not yet possible to make new connections or take overs. Finally, contracts can be signed at all 12.800 branches of the Post Office, but also on the websites. From the moment of subscription, the technical times of the process vary between 30 and 70 days.
The main offer for electricity and gas is at a constant rate
The constant installment offer provides for a fixed price regardless of consumption. What does it mean? It is a contract in which the price of the component – electricity or natural gas – comes blocked for 24 months. But the bill is not made up only of the energy component, there are other components (such as transport or meter management or system charges) which instead follow the tariff updates established by the Authority.
The tariff works as follows: the price per kWh or cubic meter of gas remains fixed for 24 months but the installment is remodulated after 12 months on the basis of the average consumption of the previous year. In case of consumption higher than the previous year, the monthly installment increases, otherwise it decreases. In practice, the adjustment, whether positive or negative, is spread over the subsequent 12 installments. If the customer then decides to change supplier, there will be a final consumption bill, to balance the accounts.
You can also choose the bill with variable installment
You can also choose to pay one variable installment, which therefore takes into account the actual consumption sustained month by month. Poste Energia's aim is to reset the differential every month. The mechanism is based on what has been requested by the European Commission and follows the guidelines of the government. The goal is to encourage families to reduce consumption.
How do you understand if the offer is convenient?
The conditions advertised on the Poste website, which are valid until March 7, provide forelectricity a price of 0,29 euros per kilowatt hour. And at the moment, the Pun, the price of electricity on the wholesale market in Italy, is around 0,16 euros per kilowatt hour. For comparison, just think that last summer the Pun exceeded 0,5 euro per kilowatt hour. It should also be remembered that the energy component accounts for 76% of the bill, then the other components must be added, including transport costs and general charges and are applied to the extent defined and updated by the ARERA. For light, the following dispatching costs are also foreseen (PD: 0,01993 euro per kilowatt hour and DISPbt: – 18,3418 euro per year).
The indicative annual expenditure that the customer will incur can be reconstructed by reading the comparison sheets present on the site. For a user with an average consumption of 2.700 kilowatt hours per year, an expense of 996 euros is indicated; however, the indicative item is net of taxes, VAT and excise duties, which weigh 10-15% more on the bill. Therefore, the annual expenditure can be around 1.200 euros.
As far as gas is concerned, the price for the energy component offered is 1,055 euros per standard cubic metre. On the wholesale market the price (Psv) is around 0,75 euro per standard cubic metre. According to comparable data sheets, an average consumption of 1.400 cubic meters per year sees a cost of 1.500 euros, which, including taxes, can reach 1.700 euros per year.
Poste Italiane's electricity and gas offer takes utilities off guard
Currently, most of the utility it no longer offers fixed-price contracts to new customers nor can it proceed with unilateral changes to contracts, prohibited by law until the end of June.
The debut of Poste Italiane on the electricity and gas supply market somehow catches competitors off guard, who may have less room for maneuver in competing on offers than under the old contracts.
