Italian families pay gas bills higher than the EU average, a sign that the diversification of supplies has not brought economic benefits to consumers. Different story for companies, which manage to have lower prices than the EU average. best for electricity, where Germany is once again the country with the highest energy prices for domestic consumers. But with consumption recovering, the war, price increases and soaring inflation, anti-crisis plans are needed. It is the warning of the president of the Arera Stefano Besseghini, during the presentation of the Annual report 2022 before the Chamber of Deputies, adding that "autumn and next winter will be the most delicate moments to face".
Prices of natural gas and electricity for households and businesses
As can be seen from the graphs, in 2021 natural gas prices will continue to be higher than the euro area average, especially for households. To weigh also the component charges and taxes, the highest of the EU average.
In the 2021 i average electricity prices for Italian domestic consumers, for 2021 they maintain a similar position to 2020, in line with and slightly lower than the average of Euro area countries in terms of gross prices, with a worsening in terms of net prices, offset by the reduction in the weight of charges and taxes. This is what the annual report of the Arera highlights.
At European level, Germany is once again confirmed as the country with the highest electricity prices for the domestic sector.
As far as businesses are concerned, "the process of progressive reduction of the gap between the average gross prices of electricity for the industrial sector of our country and the cheaper ones paid in the Euro area, which, which began in 2017, resumed in 2020 after the interruption of 2019, shows signs of reversal again in 2021, with a worsening of the situation for all classes".
Electricity consumption +6%, production from renewables down by 1,9%
According to the report of the Regulatory Authority for Energy Networks and the Environment, in 2021 i electricity consumption (300,6 TWh) in Italy are up by approximately 6% compared to 2020, recovering the decrease of the previous year (in 2020 the decrease was -6%) due to the pandemic emergency which had slowed down consumption. The increase was recorded in all sectors, including domestic where, however, the increase was much more limited than in the others (+1,5%, against increases of more than +6% in the other sectors).
La national electricity demand returned in line with the pre-covid levels of 2019 (-0,6%) and was satisfied for 86,5% by net national production (which increased by 2,2%), while for the remaining 13,5 .17% from imports. Exported energy halved and imported energy increased by 32,9%, recording an import-export energy balance of XNUMX%.
La production from renewable sources (114,7 TWh) was instead down (-1,9%); production from bioenergy, hydroelectric and geothermal decreased respectively by 6,9%, 5,9% and 2,1%, while production from wind increased considerably (10,8%). Photovoltaic production remained almost unchanged (25 TWh) with an increase of 0,5%.
Gas therefore accounts for 49,5% of total production (all thermoelectric represents 59,3%) and renewables for 40%.
Consumption of natural gas to recover in 2021
In the 2021 net consumption of natural gas increased by 5,6 bcm to 74,1 bcm (+8,1% compared to the record drop in 2020). According to the report, last year the historic minimum was reached for national production, which collapsed by -16,7% compared to 2020, which had already suffered an equal reduction.
In detail, a total of 3,3 billion cubic meters of natural gas were extracted: 1,87 billion from the sea and 1,6 from fields located on the mainland. Italy's degree of dependence on foreign supplies has risen to 93,5% (from 92,8% in 2020).
In 2021 Italy imported 6,6 billion cubic meters of natural gas more than in 2020: gross imports in fact rose to 73 billion cubic meters, showing an increase of 9,9% compared to 2020. made more use of storage and at the end of the year, withdrawals were 1.591 million cubic meters higher than inputs (1.076 million cubic meters in 2020).
Besseghini: “Consumption is recovering. We need anti-crisis plans”
With the war in Ukraine, "the issue of security of supply has regained centrality, and with domestic and industrial gas consumption recovering, it will be necessary to have the quantities necessary to support the country through the diversification of supply routes and a decisive boost to development of renewables while it is "to be applied immediately the energy saving, as controlled consumption of electricity and gas means less need for production and less need to import gas and raw materials. We need "information campaigns", "we can all contribute with our daily choices". This is what the president of Arera underlined during the presentation.
Besseghini: "Waiting for EU intervention, towards gas price cap sprint"
To deal with an emergency, international coordination is needed. “There is great anticipation for a possible new intervention by the EU Commission, in relation to the identification of tools able to offer immediate responses to the further surge in prices in the last period”, said the president of the Authority.
“The relevant issues will be interventions to mitigate costs in the electricity and gas market and, presumably, an acceleration on the possible implementation of a cap to the gas price“, he specified, pointing out at the same time that “in dealing with a complex and articulated sector such as the energy sector, a necessary condition, perhaps not sufficient but certainly necessary, is that of strong coordination (including international) of decisions”, he added.
Besseghini also pointed out that "energy prices never seen before, with the occurrence of recurring episodes of drought and a generally worsening economic situation” are “elements that test the resistance of families and the competitiveness of our industrial system”.
Arera: Besseghini: "Water scarcity makes investments and reuse unavoidable"
“Current emergencies are repetitive and predictable. The water sector it is characterized by the contradiction of historical emergencies, emergencies that shouldn't even be defined as such, given their repetitiveness and predictability. Drought and scarce availability of water continue to alternate regularly with hydrogeological instability caused by floods”, says Besseghini, adding that “the extent of the changes taking place requires, on the one hand, to evaluate in an innovative way the choices traditionally adopted to guarantee of water supplies and, on the other hand, to reconsider – reinforcing their effectiveness and efficiency – the management tools and choices for using a resource whose availability, in terms of quantity and quality, is increasingly an objective to be achieved, rather than a certainty on to rely on".
Basically, he concluded, “the scarcity of the water resource makes it impossible to postpone the investments throughout the supply chain. Furthermore, it is appropriate to grasp the potential of the reuse of the resource, for example through the use of reuse of wastewater".
