The high bills worry many families. Many of those who are on the free energy market are thinking of returning to the protected market which at this stage offers more stability and almost always lower prices.
How to get around? «The best advice, to decide what to do is to consult the PortaleOfferte di Arera, a tool that allows you to search among the proposals that are on the square and to compare them to understand which is the cheapest. «You need to know your annual consumption – explain from the National Consumers Union -. By putting your annual consumption, kWh for electricity and cubic meters for gas, among the data requested by the portal, together with the zip code of the city of interest, you can compare all the offers available in the desired area ».
However, it is not easy to understand if the offer is really advantageous. To avoid surprises, the association also recommends reading the contractual conditions, in particular the General Supply Conditions (CGF) and the Technical-Economic Conditions (CTE) with the expense comparability form established by Arera.
The association explains that for the protected person, from 1 October to 31 December 2022, for domestic users, homes of registered residence, for light the energy quota for the single-rate costs 53.451 euro cents per kilowatt hour, while for the two-rate the energy share is equal to 55.436 cents for the F1 slot (peak times, from 8:00 to 19:00 on weekdays) and 52.484 cents for the F23 slot (from 19:00 to 8:00 on weekdays, Saturdays , Sunday and public holidays). As regards the fixed fee for retail marketing, 51 euros and 40 cents per year are paid, both for the single-rate and the two-rate.
For gas, on the other hand, October prices will only be known on 3 November. The last known figure, relating to the third quarter of 2022, was 109.2216 euro cents per cubic meter for the energy share, to which must be added the annual fixed quota for marketing equal to 67 euro and 32 cents.
But how do you go back to the protected market? «To re-enter the market with greater protection for electricity, just make a contract with the operator of greater protection in the area of interest – explains the consumer association -. While as far as gas is concerned, the protection conditions can be offered by all operators. The list of these sellers can be found on the Arera website, the Energy Authority, by clicking on the item “Consumers” at the top right, then on the item “Search operators”.
By doing the search “By territory” you can enter the name of the municipality of interest and find the name of the seller and his telephone number. Alternatively, you can call the toll-free number of the Arera Consumer Desk (800 166 654).