Liberalize electricity and gas to obtain significant price reductions on bills paid by households and small businesses. This is one of the objectives, and in a certain sense also of the bets, of the Competition bill, signed by Minister for Development Federica Guidi. It is a full-bodied and broad provision: its range of action goes from insurance companies to fuel, from pharmacies to notaries, from lawyers to banks, post offices and communications. After the green light in the Council of Ministers on February 20, it had a long gestation between signatures of the various ministers and accompanying reports but now it is about to begin its journey in the Chamber where the Finance and Productive Activities commissions (presidents Daniele Capezzone of Forza Italia and Guglielmo Epifani pd) will begin examining it from next week, Italicum permitting.
LURKING LOBBY
We have therefore arrived at the eve of a debate which, needless to delude ourselves, will unleash the lobbies involved (pharmacists, notaries and lawyers are already in pole position). What's more, the two presidents of the committees concerned are not a stronghold of the majority: Big head is in open opposition after Fi's turnaround, Epifani instead he opposes from within the Democratic Party. In the government, then, Ncd with the Minister of Health Beatrice Lorenzin and the Undersecretary for Development Simona Vicari, he has already modified the text even before he entered the council of ministers, eliminating the sale of class C drugs in parapharmacies. Federica Guidi will therefore have to fight to obtain the results indicated in the report accompanying the measure: to increase the competitive dynamics in Italy in the sectors concerned to improve income (GDP) and employment in the medium-long term.
END OF PROTECTION
In the energy sector, strategic for the country, there are more than one open chapters. The bill provides for the abolition, in 2018, of the "enhanced protection" system in force: today, in fact, it is the Authority that sets the tariffs for the majority of Italian consumers for both electricity and gas. In fact, in the case of electricity, only 1 customer out of 4 has switched to the free market since 2007; in gas only 1 out of five since 2003. Too little. And those who did, generally changed the offer but kept the same operator they had before. How to push towards greater mobility? How are the objectives concretely set out and how do you avoid the risk that liberalization brings with it, contrary to hopes, an increase in prices? Many aspects will be defined by implementing decrees and provisions of the Energy Authority which will also have to control prices before and after D-Day 2018. 2016 and 2017 will therefore be decisive for preparing the revolution desired by the Renzi government.
In gas, the path promises to be simpler. Today the seller (Eni, Enel and their competitors) are committed to seeing the gas even at the price established by the Authority if this is requested by the customer. Abolishing the "greater protection" of the Authority the seller will automatically make a free price: if the customer accepts it well, otherwise he changes operator.
In electricity, the path is more complex. Today it is theUnique Buyeror (100% Treasury through the Gse) which then transfers it to operators who in turn transfer it to customers. And here is the first node: except for Enel, which has divided the protected market business and the free market business into two separate companies, all the others merge the two businesses into a single sales company. Of course, with much less transparency. What happens if the Single Buyer disappears? Guardianship dies but will remain a safeguard mechanism, which according to many it would be appropriate to strengthen compared to the bonus system in force today, for the most needy, sick and vulnerable people: 5 million Italians, according to the latest statistics, live in a condition of poverty.
How to adjust for all the others? And above all: in the transition to the liberalized system, electricity customers will remain with their current supplier or will have to choose who to go with? The first solution is the one advocated by the "integrated" subjects: Enel, Eni, A2A, Hera, Acea and the other multiutilities. In favor it must be said that it is not easy to suddenly move 26 million customers: a particularly demanding structure of call centres, consumer assistance and billing is needed and not everyone is able to offer it. Against, however, it should be remembered that mobility is the salt of competition.
So what solutions are being studied? One hypothesis under discussion would be to give families some time, for example six months, to choose who to go with. But many customers are inertial. An auction system is therefore also being thought of to assign the customer to the most advantageous operator on a territorial basis.
CONCENTRATED MARKET AND ENERGY TOURISM
Two issues remain in the background: on the protected market today 59-60 billion kilowatt hours are sold to families and small businesses (out of the 300 billion consumed in total in Italy). Enel controls 76% of this share, Acea just over 4%, Eni does not reach 4% and Edison follows in fourth position. The market is very concentrated. To reduce this concentration, it is necessary to reduce customer acquisition costs (advertising, invoicing, customer care, etc.) and attack the crux of debt collection. The integrated information system, in the making for years but still incomplete, it would be a fundamental aid for operators because it would allow them to know the customer's profile before acquiring it. Or, we go back to talking about Blacklists to counter the "energy tourism" of who changes operator and leaves the bill to pay. All open issues that liberalization will have to address and resolve.
