Bills, New Year’s Eve: from January + 55% for electricity, + 41.8% for gas

The increases in electricity and gas prices were expected: the booming increases in raw materials of the last few months had heralded further increases in the prices in the bill. However, the record size of the increase announced by Arera this evening causes discussion and fears a flurry of other increases in many areas of everyday life. From 1 January the electricity tariff will rise by 55% while that of gas will grow by 41.8%. Government intervention limited worst-case scenarios. Once again the general charges on the bill were eliminated and the VAT for gas was reduced for 35 million domestic customers and micro-enterprises. For families in difficulty, on the other hand, the social bonuses and the possibility of payment in installments have been increased.
As reported by Arera in today’s note, the new extraordinary records of the rise in the prices of wholesale energy products (almost doubled in the spot markets of natural gas and electricity in the period September-December 2021) and of emission permits of CO2, would have led to a 65% increase in the electricity bill and 59.2% in the gas bill.
In particular, the spot price of natural gas at the TTF (the European reference market for natural gas) increased, from January to December of this year, by almost 500% (from 21 to 120 euros / MWh in average values monthly); in the same period, the price of CO2 more than doubled (from 33 to 79 euros / tCO2). Arera reports that the marked growth in fuel and CO2 costs was therefore reflected in the price of wholesale electricity (PUN) which, in the same period, increased by almost 400% (from 61 to 288 euros / Mwh in the monthly average values).
According to Arera, similar repercussions on prices for final consumers have occurred throughout Europe.
Consumer associations are on a war footing. For Codacons, the increases in electricity and gas tariffs decided today by Arera represent a massacre for the pockets of families, and bring the total sting on the pockets of consumers to reach the record figure of + 1,119 euros per family only for the increases of electricity and gas between 2021 and 2022.
“In light of the new increases arranged by Arera, in just 9 months gas tariffs rise by + 84.4%, while electricity grows by + 86.9% – says the president Carlo Rienzi – This means that every single family finds himself spending +1,119 euros due to both the increases recorded in 2021 and those that will start next January 1st.
“An incendiary situation that will determine price and tariff increases in all sectors, as production activities, shops and public establishments will not be able to bear the cost of tariff increases, with indirect effects on the retail price lists estimated by Codacons at +1,200 euros per year family – continues Rienzi – The measures adopted by the Government have proved to be completely insufficient, and for this reason we ask the European Union to intervene so that, in the face of the energy emergency, it imposes fixed prices for electricity and gas, blocking the speculations in progress ”- concludes the president Codacons.
“An unprecedented sting that risks becoming a Caporetto for families and small and medium-sized enterprises. These are heart attack bills!” says Marco Vignola, head of the energy sector of the National Consumers Union.
According to the study of the National Consumers Union, in fact, for a typical family it means spending in 2022 (not, therefore, according to the rolling year, but from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022, assuming constant prices), 441 extra euros for electricity and 567 euros for gas. A higher overall cost of € 1008.
“A record increase. Never, since there are quarterly tariff updates established by the Authority, ie since January 2003, have there been such high increases, neither for electricity nor for gas” continues Vignola.
“Now the government, as promised by Draghi, must lower the bills by taking the money from those producers who have made fantastic extra profits because they have produced low cost energy, then reselling it at the lunar market prices, making good and good speculations” concludes Vignola