“The electricity sector data between January and March 2014 and the estimates and assessments that can be drawn from them, give evidence of the continuing expectation of an economic recovery for our country.” This was declared by Assoelettrica in a note, emphasizing that "in the first three months of the year, both internal production and electricity consumption decreased further, without evidence of increases in efficiency in end uses or shifts towards other energy vectors".
Due to a strong increase in the foreign balance, the decrease in production was more pronounced than the decrease in consumption. “In this context – added Assoelettrica – the growth of production from renewable sources continues in the face of the constant contraction of thermoelectric production from fossil fuels, particularly accentuated for production from natural gas. The development of renewable sources is certainly linked to natural phenomena (as demonstrated by the increase in hydroelectric production) but is clearly accompanied by support and incentive policies: in the period January-March 2014 the charges deriving from these incentives amounted to 2,5, XNUMX billion euros, with a marked reduction in their growth rate.”
“In terms of performance – reads the note – it should be noted that the price fixed on the electricity exchange continued to decrease, while the final electricity prices did not benefit from this reduction due to the growth of 'system costs' , among which the incentives for renewable sources increasingly stand out. The decrease in production from fossil fuels has produced a positive reduction in climate-altering emissions both in terms of total emissions and as average emissions".
Lastly, Assoelettrica concluded, “there has been an increase in electricity penetration, confirming a greater use of electricity in final consumption. On the other hand, the consumption of primary energy used per unit of GDP is decreasing”.
