The gas bill drops for the vulnerable but the return of the taxation removed by the Draghi government and reintroduced by Meloni weighs heavily. So bills are even 16% higher than a year ago. According to Arera’s periodic communication, from 1 February 2024 the gas bill will drop by 4% in the Vulnerability Protection Service. This is that service which, after the end of the protected market for gas in January, is aimed at those over 75 years of age, on a low income, or with disabilities. For this segment of the population the tariffs continue to be regulated by Arera as happened in the protected market.
The vulnerable will pay less in February. «Well, good news for vulnerable customers. It’s a shame that the savings are only 46 euros on an annual basis. If the Government, however, had not decided to restore the system charges and the old VAT rates in 2024, gas would have collapsed by 15%, with a discount of 126 euros, 111 due to the VAT effect alone” states Marco Vignola, manager of the energy sector of the National Consumers Union.
According to the study by the National Consumers Union, for the new typical user who consumes 1100 cubic meters of gas, -4% means spending 46 euros less on an annual basis. The total expenditure in the next twelve months (not, therefore, according to the rolling year, but from 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2025, in the hypothesis of constant prices), is equal to 1104 euros, which added to the 681 of the light of the typical family, determine a total cost of 1785 euros.
If the price of gas falls by 4% compared to that of January 2024, compared to pre-crisis times, or in comparison with February 2021, the increase compared to the price of the protection market for the typical family that consumes 1400 cubic meters of gas, while not exactly comparable, it is now 42% higher. This is why it was a very serious mistake to remove the Draghi Government’s discounts.
«The reduction in gas tariffs for vulnerable users is a positive sign, but it is a shame that bills are still 16% higher than in the same period in 2023». This was stated by Codacons who then adds «We now hope that the reduction in tariffs ordered by Arera will push companies in the free gas market to adapt to the reductions, improving the offers to consumers which at the moment appear uncompetitive» concludes president Carlo Rienzi.