Tensions on electricity and gas supplies for the winter are increasing. Gazprom said that Nord Stream, the main pipeline for transporting Russian gas to Western Europe, will not restart today, as it was expected after three days of maintenance: after the “breakdowns and damage” identified, it said. , “Gas transport” was “completely stopped”.
The fear is of a cold winter. The CGIA estimates, in a study released today, that there are over 9 million Italians at risk of energy poverty. Why so many and how was the calculation done? These are alarming data, also because they are certainly underpowered, since they were estimated well before the energy shock that broke out in our country starting from the second half of 2021.
The CGIA estimates that there are about 4 million Italian families at risk of energy poverty. Therefore, over 9 million people find themselves in this difficult situation. This emerges from the elaboration carried out by the CGIA Studies Office on the latest available data of the OIPE 2020 Report. According to the elaboration of the Venetian artisans, households that are unable to use the heating system are estimated to be in conditions of energy poverty. in winter, cooling in summer and, due to the precarious economic conditions, do not have or occasionally use appliances with high energy consumption (dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, vacuum cleaner, microwave, electric oven, etc.).
Who is at risk? In the identikit of energetically “vulnerable” families we often find those with a high number of members who reside in poorly preserved housing, with the head of the family young, often unemployed and / or immigrant.
Geographically, the most critical situation occurs above all in the South: in this macro area the frequency of energy poverty is the highest in Italy and affects between 24 and 36 per cent of families residing in this area. In absolute terms, Campania is the region most in difficulty: the number of families that occasionally use electricity and gas fluctuates between 519 thousand and 779 thousand units. Equally critical is the situation in Sicily where the fork fluctuates between 481 thousand and 722 thousand households and in Calabria which has a range between 191 thousand and 287 thousand families in difficulty in the daily use of electricity and methane.
A little less critical, but still with a medium-high energy “vulnerability”, we see the other regions of the South and some of the Center that have a range that varies from 14 to 24 per cent of resident families: Puglia (with a number of nuclei between 223,000 and 383,000), Sardinia (between 102,000 and 174,000), the Marche (between 90,000 and 154,000), Abruzzo (between 77,000 and 132,000) and Umbria (between 53 thousand and 91 thousand). The situation improves as you go up the peninsula. In the medium-low risk range (between 10 and 14 percent of the families involved), we note Lazio and some northern regions: Piedmont, Liguria, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Valle d’Aosta. Finally, in the lower band, the one that includes a number of families in difficulty ranging from 6 to 10 percent of the total, includes Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Trentino Alto Adige.
Bonuses for those in trouble
The CGIA also remembers aid for those in difficulty. The 2022 bill bonus is an economic aid introduced by the Draghi government which allows families (domestic users) and businesses (non-domestic users) in difficulty due to expensive energy to mitigate, at least in part, the increase in their bills. The most significant items are: strengthening of the electricity and gas social bonus for domestic users in disadvantaged conditions; reduction of VAT to 5 per cent on gas for both households and businesses; zeroing of general system charges for low voltage users (up to 16.5 KW); the possibility of paying bills in 10 installments, but only for those issued from 1 January to 30 June 2022 (previously the deadline set by the 2022 Budget Law was 30 April, deferred by the 2022 Energy Decree).
Who is eligible for the bonus
The social bonus, which is part of the aforementioned concessions included in the 2022 bill bonus, is only for domestic users in difficulty, namely: households with an ISEE below 12,000 euros (we remind you that for the first quarter the ISEE threshold was 8,265 euros , then raised retroactively: the ISEE index of 12,000 is also applicable for supplies in January, February and March 2022 and those who were previously excluded obtain compensation on the bills of the following quarters); large families with an ISEE of 20,000 euros per year and at least 4 children; the beneficiaries of the Citizenship Income or Citizenship Pension; users in precarious health conditions who use electro-medical equipment.
The Aid Decree bis, published in the Official Gazette last month, included, from 1 January 2023, among “vulnerable” customers also people over 75, retired and non-retired, and those who have utilities in the smaller non-interconnected islands or in emergency homes after a disaster.