Roma. Energy, still an increase in bills for the supply of electricity and gas. Starting from April 1st, new increases are triggered, corresponding to an increase of 3.8% for electricity and 3.9% for natural gas. At the base of the increases is the rise in the prices of raw materials on international markets: during 2020 – also due to the effects of the pandemic – the demand for oil but above all for methane had dropped, the latter reaching an all-time low.
With the exit of Asian countries from the coronavirus emergency, the demand for raw materials has restarted, starting with hydrocarbons. With inevitable repercussions on the price level. Furthermore, the quarterly review of the bills also takes into consideration the prospects of the energy markets: also in this case, further growth in demand is expected, with the spread of vaccination policies.
The combination of the two trends led the Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment (Arera) to foresee an increase in tariffs for the next three months, until the end of June. It must always be remembered that the variation in tariffs concerns precisely the “component” of raw materials, net of taxes and the so-called service charges, which range from the investment contributions of the operators to the incentives, of which the most consistent item obviously concerns the renewables, which should begin to decline within two years.
Just as it should always be remembered that the quarterly changes in tariffs concern households and VAT numbers that have not yet passed to the free market, but have remained in the so-called “protection” market: only since last year, the number of consumers who have chosen to moving to the free market has exceeded the number of those who have not yet made this choice. The obligation to switch to the free market – and therefore to sign a new contract with one of the operators present on the market – will only start from January 1, 2023.
In fact, the “pandemic” effect has been eliminated: the first lockdown had led to a considerable decrease in tariffs related to energy bills, but considering the last twelve months now it turns out that the change – compared to the previous twelve months is still lower but only 0.7% for electricity and a little higher for natural gas, equal to about 5.6%.
It should be noted that part of the increases is due to the new record level reached by C02 prices, in practice by the surcharge imposed by the eu for polluting emissions. But it is a cost that, indirectly, ends up weighing on consumers.
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