Il energy price in Italy it is higher than the EU average and the difference continues to increase. Despite the sharp declines in the wholesale markets, in the first half of this year the Italian prices of gas they increased by 10% on an annual basis for industrial consumers and by 8% for households, against an EU average increase of 5%. L'electric energy, on the other hand, scored +7% for both industrial and domestic consumers, against +4% of the EU average. The data is contained in the latest Analysis of the Italian energy system released by Enea.
"For the consumer. domestic type - explains Francesco Gracceva, the ENEA researcher who coordinates the analysis - the price of electricity has steadily increased in the last decade, with a +23% in the first half of 2019 compared to the first half of 2009".
Le companies, on the other hand, "have begun to benefit from a series of declines - continues the expert - and, since the beginning of 2018, have been approaching the EU average, in particular as regards energy-intensive industries, thanks to the reductions introduced by the tax reform of system".
If we consider the last six years, another rather significant asymmetry emerges: the sharp drop in gas prices on the European market (-33%) translated into a decrease for businesses (-4%), while households they underwent a 9% increase. An imbalance to be attributed mainly to the increase in system charges and the costs for transporting energy and for managing the meter.
On the front of energy consumption, Enea records a 1% drop in the first six months of 2019 compared to the same period of 2018.
Even less reassuring news comes from production, given that that from renewable sources fell by 2,5%, mainly due to the collapse of hydroelectric power (-17%). And given that, on the contrary, energy generation from fossil sources remains stable, it is not surprising that our country has failed to bring down CO2 emissions in the first half of this year.
