The high bill pushes up the outstanding payments among individuals and small businesses. According to a survey by Arte, the association that groups Italian resellers and energy traders, the value of unpaid supplies in Italy has gone from about 17 million euros in December last year, equal to 10% of the monthly total. , at 21.5 in January (13% of the total), up to about 26 million of outstanding payments in February, or 15.44%. Almost one out of six customers, according to the Arte analysis sample (the associated companies supply 1.3 million meters throughout Italy) today struggles to honor the supply contract, with an average increase in secondments due to arrears which has always been in February, more than 36% compared to the same period of the previous year.
«We are only at the beginning – explains Diego Pellegrino, spokesman for the association -, because the outstanding amounts counted in these weeks are due to the peaks of the month of December. But in March the price of energy, as is well known, reached new highs and we will see the consequences of this surge only in two months. The problem with this sector is that the consumer is unable to have an immediate perception of the increase in prices, as happens for example with the petrol pump. No one is telling consumers that bills increased 10% in March compared to December, few are aware of it. We little traders are the thermometer of a situation that is getting out of hand for everyone. And the consequences risk being devastating ».
Small Italian suppliers are trying to stop the phenomenon by adopting where possible mechanisms to facilitate the return of payments. To date, 41,237 installment plans have been activated, of which 24,597 attributable to domestic users, the rest relating to businesses (which account for 80% of the value of managed assets). For the former, the amount currently being paid in installments is 19 million, for the latter it exceeds 37 million.
These are debts of 7-800 euros on average for domestic users, from about 5 thousand euros for VAT numbers and small businesses. The installments are a modality envisaged by the Energy Decree, “but we did it in the past – continues Pellegrino: who would abandon their customers to default?”. The problem is that the latter prefer “tailor-made” repayment plans, perhaps “longer periods, or lower installments – he continues -; in doing so, however, we cannot access the dowry made available by the Decree. We need more flexibility ». Furthermore, continues Pellegrino, “one thing is to pay the payments of some customers in difficulty in installments, another is to meet the needs of thousands”.
The resellers and associated traders in Arte – together they invoice around 2 billion for 120 operators and 12 thousand employees – cannot continue to act as a “bank” pending a relaxation of tension on supplies. “We have never experienced such a situation, not even during the lockdowns for Covid – explains Pellegrino -. We are already at the limit: we are unable to cope with this need for working capital and many supply companies, especially those of a certain size, risk default. We are penalized by our position within the supply chain. In the invoice there are various charges such as excise duties, transport costs and dispatching that we collect and return to the State: an exemption would be needed to buffer the situation, instead we are forced to pay on time. It is the little ones who are supporting the situation, the Government should recognize this, instead of guaranteeing position rents to others ». Arte asks for structural interventions. «We need to change the price formation rules – explains Pellegrino -, the link with the spot price is annihilating us. The incentives provided for by the latest decree are a little help to stop the emergency but do not solve the situation “.