Il gas price goes down, but the bill goes up. The reason? With the bill decree, the Meloni Government has reduced invoice discounts for families. Therefore, after a quarter of reductions, the gas bill on the protected market starts to grow again: in fact, for consumption in April it marks a +22,4% compared to March. This was announced in a press release by Arera, the public regulatory authority for energy, networks and the environment.
Bills up in April
On the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, the reference market for Europe, the price of gas is today just above 36 euros per mWh, the lowest level since July 2021, while the average wholesale price recorded a slight decline. Yet consumers will find a bitter surprise in the bill which translates into an increase of more than 22% compared to March. The increase is mainly due to the reduction, envisaged by the recent "bill decree" (DL 34/2023), of the discount component UG2, used in the last year for the benefit of consumers to offset the increases. In fact, the measure established a 5% VAT reduction for gas and zeroed the remaining general system charges, but taking into consideration the reduction in wholesale gas prices, the negative rates of the UG2 tariff component, applied to the consumption brackets up to 5.000 cubic meters per year, there were instead confirmed to a reduced extent, equal to 35% of the value applied in the first quarter of 2023.
The government, reads a note, “continues to constantly monitor the fluctuations in energy prices and the Mef is ready to intervene to support households and businesses in the event of significant and sudden increases".
In this context, however, there is good news: «The increase will probably be perceived less, because it arrives at the time of year when the heating is now off and household gas consumption tends to be at a minimum – he says Stefano Besseghini president of Arera – We must bear in mind that we have taken the road of a return to normal, in which the energy system is called to balance without recourse to state finances to face the crisis».
With the heating off and consumption at a minimum, there will therefore be the possibility to better amortize the increases.
Bills: here are all the increases
In April, the average wholesale price, as mentioned, was slightly lower than in March, with the price of the gas raw material alone (CMEMm), for customers with contracts under protected conditions, equal to 44,83 euros per MWh.
According to the Arera, in the month of April compared to the previous one, for a typical user the expense for natural gas fell by -3,1%, the tariff linked to the expense for transport and metering decreased by -4 %, but the general charges for the part linked to the UG2 rose by +29,5%. This is how it is determined the final +22,4% for the typical family.
In terms of final effects, gas expenditure for the typical household in the rolling year (May 2022-April 2023) is 1532,49 euro, down by -3,9% compared to the equivalent 12 months of the previous year (May 2021-April 2022).
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