It's official: in 2024 the era of protected market di electricity and gas and that of the begins free market also for families. The Council of Ministers approved the new one on Monday 27 November Energy decree with which the greater protection regime was not extended. A choice linked to compliance with the commitments made by the government for the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr): 16,5 billion euros of the fourth installment have just been released, money that an extension would have put at risk. From 10 January 2024 the end of the maximum protection regime for gas and gas will therefore come into effect April 1st for electricity. The Ministry of the Environment has announced that it will set up a table to study "soft" and non-traumatic transition methods for families. The objective is to continue to protect 9,5 million people as much as possible with prices regulated by Arera, the Energy Authority. But, back to light bills, what happens with the end of the protected market? What is the procedure for change operator and what happens if nothing is done?
Electricity bills, the difference between protected and free markets
Il protected market regime predicts that the rates for electricity are established by the Arera which updates them every three months and does so on the basis of the price trend of the raw materials market. As regards electricity, the energy supplier coincides with the distributor. This means that the rates and contractual conditions are standardized and uniform. In the free marketinstead, it is the competition to do the price. Therefore, companies have the flexibility to define contractual and economic conditions, which can lead to a greater variety of options, as we know well thanks to the world of telecommunications. In any case, everything remains regulated by the State and the Antitrust, so as to be able to guarantee that contracts and supply operations are carried out in total transparency and fairness towards citizens.
How to choose the best offer on the free electricity market?
If you want to choose completely independently, you can always switch to the free market before April 2024, by contacting a supplier of your choice. But delving into the meanders of quote it's not simple at all. To compare them you need to use i online comparators which show the various promos available based on parameters set by the user, or, if you are not very familiar, contact either an agent or a store. On the web, a tool for comparing the various offers on the free market is the Offers Portal managed in agreement and with the supervision of the Authority by the Single Buyer.
But what should you evaluate to choose an offer?
The fundamental parameters are:
- il offer price: made up of the energy component, expressed in euros per kilowatt hour, and the fixed marketing fee, the fixed monthly cost incurred to keep the supply active regardless of consumption.
- il annual energy consumption. It is essential to know your kilowatt hour needs to understand whether an offer is convenient or not.
- il consumption by time slots. This will help you understand how much you currently spend and which type of tariff could be best suited to your needs: single-hourly to use electricity at any time of the day while always paying the same price or multi-hourly to pay less if you consume it in the more convenient electricity time slots.
The other items in the bill (expenditure for the transport of electricity and for the management of the meter, expenditure for system charges and taxes) are the same for each supply and do not represent an element to be considered in identifying the best electricity tariffs on the market .
Other factors not to be underestimated
Once you have examined your situation you can move on to compare the various offers. First of all, we need to understand which type of energy tariff we prefer. A'fixed price offer, protects against possible increases, but if prices were to drop or remain more or less constant, you would pay a little more than those who had chosen the variable price, i.e. indexed based on the wholesale market. With a variable price, instead, you pay an increase (spread) compared to the Pun (single national price), a price which varies every month, and is always published and visible on the website of the Energy Markets Manager at this page. Then there are the threshold rates, when the quantity of kW of electricity consumed exceeds the maximum threshold established by the contract, a surcharge is paid, and the offer may no longer be advantageous.
The choice of supplier is not only determined by the price of energy and our annual consumption. When switching to the free market, some suppliers may offer discounts, promotions exclusives, or other advantages that could influence our choice. Another important aspect to check are the contractual conditions: including details on tariffs, activation costs and penalties in case of early termination of the contract.
Finally, a must never be missing digital service to manage and monitor tariffs in full autonomy. To find out if these digital services are really functional, you can take a look at customer reviews: any compliments or complaints can be a valid indicator of the quality of the service provided.
After choosing among the various offers available, the one best suited to your needs, simply sign the new supply contract. The new seller will then activate the procedure for changing and withdrawing the old contract.
End of the protected market: what changes for the vulnerable?
The end of the protected market in April will not affect all those who have not completed the transition to the free market, but only customers classified as not vulnerable, approximately 4,5 million people.
So, the people vulnerable they will continue to have regulated prices, if they want otherwise they will be able to choose a contract on the free market. This applies to both electricity and gas. This category includes all those citizens who are over 75 years of age, who are in disadvantaged economic conditions (such as bonus recipients), who have a disability, who have access to an emergency housing facility, who live in a 'unconnected smaller island and those who have serious health problems and must use electro-medical equipment (these last two apply only to electricity). These subjects will be automatically transferred to Arera vulnerability protection service.
Gradual Protection Service: this is what happens if we don't move to the free market
Instead, non-vulnerable customers who do not sign up to a free market contract for electricity from April will automatically move, without any interruption, into a transition process known as Gradual Protection Service (Stg). They will be supplied with electricity by a seller identified by Arera through local auctions, to which domestic customers who have not made the transition to the free market will be transferred. But how much will you pay? In this case, the contractual conditions are established by the Authority and provide for the application of Placet-type offers (Free price with equivalent protection conditions) with a price based on the average of the final values of the Single National Price (Pun) of energy traded on the wholesale market. The price will be unique nationwide and will consist of:
- il cost for energy: procurement costs based on the Pun and dispatching cost + imbalance costs established by Arera before the tenders + single national price which will be defined based on the award prices emerging from the tender;
- il shipping cost e meter management (similar to that of the free market);
- The system charges (similar to that of the free market).
What about payment? Bimonthly invoicing and payment by direct debit, postal order or credit card or payment slip are always expected.
At any time, it will be possible to switch to the free market.
This system will last until maximum three years (until the same month of 2027), after which those who have not yet made the switch will remain with the same TSG operator, but under economic conditions decided by the supplier itself and renewed every 12 months.
